Toolbox
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
The Toolbox displays icons for controls and other items that you can add to Visual Studio projects. To open the Toolbox, click Toolbox on the View menu. You can dock the Toolbox, and you can pin it open or set it to Auto Hide.
Toolbox icons can be dragged to a design view or pasted in a code editor. Either action adds the fundamental code to create an instance of the Toolbox item in the active project file.
The Toolbox displays only the items that are appropriate to the type of file you are working in. You can search within the Toolbox to further filter the items that appear. If your project requires a control that is not supported by the Client Profile, you can set your project to target the entire framework by editing the project properties.
Note
Your computer might show different names or locations for some of the Visual Studio user interface elements in the following instructions. The Visual Studio edition that you have and the settings that you use determine these elements. For more information, see Customizing Development Settings in Visual Studio.
Help on Toolbox Tabs
The following documents provide more information about specific Toolbox tabs.