Thanks for the heads-up, Einar. I've been swamped today with work deadlines and so I hadn't even been checking the questions here today. I see that was a pretty lengthy thread. Thanks to Mario for answering it. I'm with you ... I never even noticed the down arrow on the Open button before.

I haven't tried it out yet, but I *do* have one observation to make. Are you using VSS? I'm curious as to how you'd handle this with VSS. Won't you be sharing those linked files anyway?

~~Bonnie



>Bonnie,
>Just an FYI. This message has the solution to share directly in VS.NET.
>messageid:959720 (sorry I can't remember the command to display the link directly to the message).
>
>Einar
>
>
>
>>Einar,
>>
>>In VSS, right-click on a project for which you need to share files. Choose the "Sharing" option. You'll then be able to choose the project that holds the files which you need to share. When you retrieve these files from VSS, it'll place a copy of the files in your new project.
>>
>>>Do you know if there is a way for VS.NET to reference the file and not copy it into the directory of the project?
>>
>>I don't of any way to do this.
>>
>>>Do you feel comfortable using the share feature in VSS since it seems to be different than the M$ standard (creating a .net dll)?
>>
>>I obviously don't have a problem with it, otherwise I wouldn't do it this way. <g>
>>
>>~~Bonnie
>>
>>
>>
>>>Bonnie,
>>>Yes I do use MS Visual Source Safe. I have not used this share feature in VSS before could you please explain this seature or point me in the direction where I can read more about this.
>>>
>>>Do you know if there is a way for VS.NET to reference the file and not copy it into the directory of the project?
>>>
>>>Do you feel comfortable using the share feature in VSS since it seems to be different than the M$ standard (creating a .net dll)?
>>>
>>>Thanks you for your reply.
>>>
>>>Sincerely,
>>>Einar
>>>
>>>>Einar,
>>>>
>>>>Do you use any kind of Source control? We accomplish this sort of thing by sharing files between projects in Visual Source Safe.
>>>>
>>>>~~Bonnie
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I have created a folder with some utility files that I might use in several different projects, but I noticed something kind of odd. I used the add existing item to add myfile.cs to my project, up until now I thought everthing was fine until I went into the folder where I had my project and it made a copy of myfile.cs into the project folder. Now that is not what I wanted, I wanted to add a link to that file in the folder so that I can use that cs file is several project but only have one copy of the file. so I can make updates in one place. Is there a way to do this?
>>>>>
>>>>>I know the other solution is to create a project will all the utility files and create a dll that I distribute, but I think the other method might be cleaner for small projects.
>>>>>
>>>>>Any thoughts on this are welcome.
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks,
>>>>>Einar