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How to: Cloak and Decloak Folders in a Workspace

Cloaking hides specified workspace folders from being viewed. Cloaking is optionally set for folders that you do not consider needed at the current time. Another reason for cloaking is when you are working with files from two or more branches under a common parent. You likely want to cloak the parent and sibling folders that you are not working with to avoid copying files you do not need. Cloaking also increases performance bandwidth and conserves local disk space by preventing folders and files not currently used from being copied to the local workspace. For more information, see Working with Source Control Workspaces. Although you can cloak an existing folder mapping in your workspace, a more probable scenario is to create a new folder mapping specifically intended to be cloaked. A folder cannot be cloaked if the folder does not have a mapped parent (for example, $/parent/child can only be cloaked if there is a mapping for $/ or $/parent). For more information, see How to: Add and Remove a Working Folder in a Workspace.

Required Permissions

To perform these procedures, you must have the Administer workspaces permission set to Allow. For more information, see Team Foundation Server Permissions.

To cloak folders in a workspace

  1. On the File menu, click Source Control, and then select Workspaces.

  2. In the Manage Workspaces dialog box, click the workspace you want to apply cloaking to, and then click Edit.

  3. In the Edit Workspaces dialog box, in the Working folders list, either highlight the folder mapping located under Source Control Folder and Local Folder that you want to cloak, or create a new one. Under Status, change the setting from Active to Cloaked.

    Note

    You can only cloak folders in an actively mapped Team Foundation source control server folder.

  4. Click OK to close Edit Workspaces and Close to close Manage Workspaces.

    Note

    The files will not disappear locally until you perform another get for the whole workspace. For more information, see How to: Update the Source in your Workspace.

To decloak folders in a workspace

  1. On the File menu, click Source Control, and then select Workspaces.

  2. In the Manage Workspaces dialog box, click the workspace to which you want to apply cloaking, and then click Edit.

  3. In the Edit Workspaces dialog box, in the Working folders list, highlight the folder located under Source Control Folder and Local Folder that you want to decloak. Under Status, change the setting from Cloaked to Active.

    -or-

    Highlight the applicable row containing the cloaked folder and click Remove; this action deletes the cloaked folder.

  4. Click OK to close Edit Workspaces, and Close to close Manage Workspaces.

    Note

    The files do not disappear locally until you perform another get for the whole workspace. For more information, see How to: Update the Source in your Workspace.

See Also

Other Resources

Understanding Source Control with Solution Explorer