Projects
Projects group sets of files and folders to keep your work organized. They support project-specific settings and build systems and you can quickly switch between them to continue working where you left off.
Adding folders to a project is necessary for Goto Anything and project-wide Goto Definition.
There is always an active project, even if you haven't created or opened one. In this situation, you are working with an anonymous project, which has limited functionality. New windows always use an anonymous project when they first open.
Project metadata is stored in JSON files with a .sublime-project extension. Wherever there's a .sublime-project file, you will find an ancillary .sublime-workspace file too. The .sublime-workspace file contains session data that you should never edit. (More on workspaces later.)
Note
Generally speaking, it's fine to commit .sublime-project files to a source code repository, but always be mindful of what you store in them.
Creating a Project
Start with an anonymous project by opening a new window or closing any active project with the Project → Close Project menu.
You can add and remove folders to/from a project using the Project menu or the side bar's context menu. If you drag a folder onto a Sublime Text window, it will be added to the project too.
To save an anonymous project, go to Project → Save Project As....
After the project is saved, you can edit it by hand to adjust further options.
Opening Projects
Using the main menu, you can open or switch projects by selecting Project → Open Recent, Project → Switch Project… or Project → Quick Switch Project….
When switching projects, Sublime Text will close the current project and open the specified one in the same window, When opening a project, Sublime Text will open a new window and open the selected project there.
Keyboard shortcuts related to projects:
| Description | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Quick Switch Project… | Ctrl + Alt + P |
Note
The key binding was removed with build 3096 for Windows and must be added manually, if desired. In order to do this, add the following key binding to your user key bindings file:
{ "keys": ["ctrl+alt+p"], "command": "prompt_select_workspace" }Additionally, you can open a project from the command line by passing the .sublime-project file as an argument to the subl command line helper included with Sublime Text.
Advanced Configuration for Project Files
Along with more options for individual directories, projects can have specific build systems or settings overrides.
See Also
Projects - Reference : Documentation on project file format and options.
Settings Related to the Sidebar and Projects
binary_file_patterns : A list of wildcards. Files matching these wildcards will show up in the side bar, but will be excluded from Goto Anything and Find in Files.
Workspaces
Workspaces hold session data associated with a project, which includes information about the opened files, pane layout, find history and more. A project can have multiple workspaces.
A common use case for workspaces is to work on different features within the same project, where each feature requires a different set of files to be open, and you want to switch between features quickly. In this case you'll want to have a second workspace available. Writing tests could be an example for this.
Workspaces behave very much like projects. To create a new workspace, select Project → New Workspace for Project. To save the active workspace, select Project → Save Workspace As....
The workspace metadata is stored in JSON files with the .sublime-workspace extension, which you are not supposed to edit.
To switch between different workspaces, use Ctrl Alt P, exactly as you do with projects.
As with projects, you can open a workspace from the command line by passing the desired .sublime-workspace file as an argument to the subl command line helper included with Sublime Text.
WARNING
Unlike .sublime-project files, .sublime-workspace files are not meant to be shared or edited manually. You should never commit .sublime-workspace files into a source code repository.