An attendee in my Visual Studio 2008 Tips and Treats session this weekend in Richmond, Virginia brought a new tip to my attention. I've often seen the 'Search Hidden Text' checkbox in the Quick Find dialog (Ctrl+F), but I never paid much attention to it. I remember playing with it once, but it didn't seem to do anything, and I just ignored it.

What I learned is that by default, the Quick Find dialog does not search text in collapsed regions. Only by enabling this checkbox will you be able to search text in collapsed regions. I never noticed the difference because I personally don't like regions, and told Visual Studio to ignore them.

In case you're wondering, to turn off regions:

VB: Tools | Options | Text Editor | Basic | VB Specific > 'Enable outlining mode'

CS: Tools | Options | Text Editor | C# | Advanced > 'Enter outlining mode when files open' and 'Surround generated code with #region'

Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the individual, but thanks! Now I know, and know you know too!