Two weeks before the RTM launch event, Visual Studio 2019 release candidate demonstrates new functionality that may change your workflow currently available with Visual Studio 2017. I’ll demonstrate differences comparing latest Visual Studio 2019 Community RC.2 with Visual Studio 2017 Community version 15.9.9.

1. Visual Studio 2019 replaces the Start Page with the Start Window:

Visual Studio 2017 has the Start Page not blocking the main Visual Studio window and showing Developer News:

Start Page also supports customization. For example, BetterStartPage extension replaces the news section by a custom project dashboard where you can organize solutions and projects into different groups for fast access. Start Page: Please give it back! is the open issue in the community forum.

2. In Visual Studio 2019 top level menus from extensions are moved to the Extensions menu as submenus:

In Visual Studio 2017 it was much easier to access them from the top level with the mouse or a keyboard shortcut:

Get rid of new Extensions menu is the open issue in the community forum.

3. Visual Studio 2019 no longer shows a standard title bar:

Visual Studio 2017 displays in the title bar the solution name, optional admin access and optional experimental instance:

The dedicated title bar is an easy target for dragging the main window. And it is customizable with the Visual Studio Window Title Changer extension, for example you can add a solution directory to the title or a branch name. Do not remove title bar from Visual Studio 2019 is the “completed” issue in the community forum.

4. Enforced background extensions loading in Visual Studio 2019 adds additional delay to Visual Studio startup time if your work depends on extensions, without clear indication when you can start using them.

5. Visual Studio 2019 no longer allows to create small code fragment editors. In Visual Studio 2017 with the Task Canvas extension you can work with multiple code fragments without switching tabs:

CreateProjectionBuffer no longer works in VS 2019 is the open issue in the community forum.

Participate and vote on Visual Studio Developer Community forum to attract more attention from Microsoft, Visual Studio extension developers and community members to the important issues!