Update a work area from a stream

In the Visual Studio IDE, you can update your work area with the latest changes from any version of a stream that is associated with a work area.

For details about merging conflicts, see Merge conflicts and synchronize streams.

To update a work area with changes from a stream:

  1. Select the project in Solution Explorer.
  2. On the toolbar, click Update or select File > Source Control > Update. The Update Work Area from Stream wizard opens.

  3. (Optional) To change the stream, in the Update Changes from This Stream box, select another stream:

    • Click Select. In the Select Stream dialog box, specify a stream and, optionally, a stream version.

    • Enter the name of a stream, and optionally a version, in this format:

      PRODUCT:STREAM_NAME;VERSION

  4. (Optional) The path to the work area to be updated is displayed in the Update This Work Area box. To change the work area, enter its path, or click Select and choose an area.
  5. To interactively (manually) verify the results of any file merge operation before applying them to the work area, select Perform an interactive update.
  6. To restrict the update to a specific folder and its subfolders, select Limit the scope of the merge to this folder and browse to the folder, or enter its repository path. If you invoked the update operation from a subfolder, and not the root of the stream, its path is prepopulated.
  7. To set advanced options, click Advanced.

  8. To restrict the update to particular files or folders, enter wildcard filters for including or excluding files. For details, see Include and exclude files and folders.

  9. To apply the repository date and time to the updated files in the work area, select Apply repository date and time.
  10. (Used when shelving a stream) To create a clean work and reset the work area to the latest repository content, select Reset work area changes to repository versions and paths. You can also choose to delete locally added files (such as artifacts added by a local build process).
  11. Select Expand substitution variables if required. For details about item header substitution, see Use header substitution variables.
  12. To automatically merge local and repository files whose content does not conflict, select Auto merge non-conflicting file content. You can also select a default character set that is used to transcode Unicode files before merging.

  13. To interactively (manually) verify the results of the file merge operations before applying them to the work area, click Next.

    If you are not performing an interactive update, click Update. The work area is updated, and the results are displayed.

  14. On the Review Changes page, expand the folder tree to display the changes that have been identified.

  15. On the toolbar, select a resolution for each conflict:

    Option Description
    Ignore Ignore a change.
    Use local Use the version of the change in the work area.
    Use repository Use the version of the change in the repository.

    If a conflict includes path differences, you can also select to use local path or use repository path.

    Your selection is displayed in the Resolution column.

    Caution: If you select Use local or Use Repository, you may discard a change that you want to keep.

  16. To merge the content of two file revisions that are in conflict, click Merge. The default merge tool opens, displaying the content of the revisions. After you have completed the merge successfully and exited the merge tool, the resolution is displayed as Merge.

  17. To view the changes that have been made to a revision, right-click and select View.
  18. Click Update. The results of the update operation are displayed.
  19. Click Close.

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