For any file or folder that is under version control, you can get detailed information about what changes have been made to that item. Team Foundation version control maintains historical data related to every version of every file that has ever been checked in.

When you look over the history of a file, folder, or branch, you are often trying to solve a problem or answer a question. By using the Team Foundation version control History window, you can more easily resolve questions and situations such as the following:

Required permissions

To perform these procedures, you must have the Read permission set to Allow. For more information, see the following page on the Microsoft Web site: Team Foundation Server Permissions.

Common Tasks

To view historical information about a version-controlled item

  1. Perform one of the following tasks:

    • In Package Explorer or Project Explorer, right-click the item for which you want to view history, point to Team, and click View History.

      The History window appears and displays all changesets for the item that you specified.

    • In Source Control Explorer, right-click the item for which you want to view history, and click View History.

  2. Perform one or more of the following tasks:

    • To view changeset details, right-click the changeset for which you want to view details and then click Details.

      The Details for Changeset dialog box appears. For more information, see View Detailed Information for a Changeset.

    • To view the version of a file as it was submitted in a changeset, right-click that changeset and then click View.

    • To retrieve to your working folder the version of a file as it was submitted in a changeset, right-click that changeset and then click Get This Version.

    • To compare two changeset versions of the item, highlight those versions, right-click either, and then click Compare.

      A window appears that shows the differences between the files.

    • To compare the version of a file in your local working folder with a changeset version, right-click the changeset version, and then click Compare.

      A window appears that shows the differences between the files.

To view version control history from a command prompt

  1. Open a command prompt.

  2. At the command prompt, type tf history ItemSpec.

    For more information, see the following page on the Microsoft Web site: History Command (Team Foundation Version Control).

See Also