Visual Studio 2013 close all Tool Windows

Question

I would be delighted, elated even, if someone could tell me how to close every tool window in Visual Studio 2013 in an automatable fasion. Solution Explorer, Output Window, and Toolbox are all examples of the countless tool windows that can accumulate on my screen. I'm using Autohotkey to try to close them, but it has become impossible to do through blind keyboard shortcuts (AFIK.) I'm not opposed to a plugin but something with just the keyboard would be ideal.

Thanks so much!

Answer 1

If you want to do it with Autohotkey, take a look at WinClose as MCL suggested. You might also need SetTitleMatchMode . I'm still using Visual Studio 2010, but with some minor adjustments it should also work in Visual Studio 2012:

SetTitleMatchMode, 2 ;No need to enter the full title
Enter:: ;press enter to close all tool windows
    WinClose, Microsoft Visual, Find and Replace
    WinClose, Microsoft Visual, Solution Explorer
    WinClose, Microsoft Visual, Class View
    WinClose, Microsoft Visual, Property Manager
    ;...
    Sleep, 1000
Return

Esc:: ;Use Esc to exit the script
  ExitApp

Use "AU3_Spy.exe" form your Autohotkey folder to find the WinTitle(part) and some visible text.

Answer 2

Layouts-O-Rama is my take on the problem. To be found in the vs gallery here:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/35966ad9-430f-4ad7-9186-4394b784e36c

Basically the addin saves tool window layouts. You could simply save a layout with all tool windows closed and assign a hotkey to it. To go even further you could save another layout with all the tool windows you like opened and assign a different hotkey to this.