How do I edit the Visual Studio templates for new C# class/interface?

Question

I find myself removing the following import statements in nearly every C# file I create in Visual Studio:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

Of course its really easy to do this with Resharper, but I really should not have to.

There must be a few template (class, interface) somewhere in the VS directory, from which I can remove the offending lines. Where do I find these files? Is there a better way to control the default import list?

Answer 1

Extract, edit and recompress. Paths are for the class template, but the interface templates are in the same folder.

You may want to edit the VS template file in each to remove the fact that they don't automatically add references to the assemblies System, System.Data and/or System.Xml.

2005:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\1033\Class.zip

2008:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class.zip

2010:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class.zip

Starting with Visual Studio 2012, the templates are not zipped, so you can edit each .cs template in each applicable folder directly.

2012:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class\Class.cs

2013:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class\Class.cs

2015:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class\Class.cs

2017

VS 2017 changes the directory location, and is now dependent on your edition (Professional/Enterprise/etc). So for the Enterprise edition:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class\Class.cs

2019

The VS 2019 location is similar to 2017. So for the Enterprise edition:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Enterprise\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class\Class.cs

Notes

Express Editions

In Express Editions you will have to search in the subdirectory WDExpress inside the IDE folder, so e.g. for VS 2015 Express:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\WDExpress\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class\Class.cs

Other Languages

If you don't use the English version of Visual Studio, the folder 1033 may not exist, but a different number representing your language. For example it is 1031 in a German installation.