See What Other Users Have Checked Out in TFS

There are lots of good reasons why you might want to identify which files are checked out by your fellow TFS users. Maybe you’re going to merge a branch and want to make sure everybody’s changes get included. Or perhaps an intern has gone back to school. Regardless of the reason, and whether you’re looking for all users or a specific user, it’s very easy to do!

If you’re a point-and-clickster, and you like working within the friendly confines of the Visual Studio IDE, you’ll be happy to know that there’s a menu option. Note this menu option is installed with the Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Power Tools, available from the Visual Studio Gallery.

  1. File > Source Control > Find in Source Control > Status…
  2. Find

But don’t fret if you’re a command-line purist, either. Microsoft’s got you covered with the tf status command. Here are some sample usages:

c:\tfs\tf status /user:*
c:\tfs\tf status /user:dave
c:\tfs\tf status c:\SomeOtherDir /recursive

Author: Adam Prescott

I'm enthusiastic and passionate about creating intuitive, great-looking software. I strive to find the simplest solutions to complex problems, and I embrace agile principles and test-driven development.

8 thoughts on “See What Other Users Have Checked Out in TFS”

  1. Hello – thanks for the helpful blog post. I’ve never used TFS Power Tools before – just tried to install it. Looked like the install was successful, but I’m not seeing the new options in the VS menu. I’m using VS 2013 and installed Power Tools for 2013 as well. All I see under File -> Source Control are : Find, and Advanced.

    Any idea as to where to fine the new tools? Thanks.

    Reply

    1. look under File->Source Control->Find menu

      To find files in source control, open the File->Source Control->Find menu. This menu lists the two new types of find operations that may be performed in source control:

      · Status – The find files by status feature enables you to locate files in source control based on their check-out status. Using this feature, you can specify a path and a user for which a status search should be performed.

      · Wildcard – The find files by wildcard feature enables you to locate files that match a given wildcard string.

      On the results screen, the items matching the supplied criteria are returned in a table that lists the file/folder name, the user that has checked out the file, the workspace containing the check-out, pending changes, and the path to the file.

      Reply

  2. I installed tfs 2013, sql server 2012. I want to know how to trace the cheched in files.. deleted files ..all operations done in tfs 2013 from sql server 2012.. where and how to find this details. Also in tbi.command table how to identify the details..

    Reply

  3. Does PowerTools only display the “source Code” files that are checked out, or will it also display binary files? We store binary files in TFS too.

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Seeing Other Users | Ahjoykh

  5. I’m using Visual Studio 2015. When I search for checked out files, the results always show the user name as a guid. Does anyone know how to resolve this to a name. The search dialogue will only filter on user if I use the guid as well.

    Reply
  6. Pingback: See What Other Users Have Checked Out in TFS – NerdNotes

  7. I’d like to be able to convert the results to an object so it can be manipulated etc… can’t seem to find any examples anywhere unfortunately. Also looking for a combination of: 1) checked out files, 2) changes in local server but not checked out, 3) files in local workspace NOT under TFS control (eg: forgot to check them in) as a reconciliation/accountability report for each user in an easy to read format, eg: table format. I can see the commands to run but not how to manipulate them into tables.

    Reply

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