MS Visual Studio Project hidden folder

I found a hidden folder in my project folder called .vs
I removed it from my project folder and my program worked just as fine as before.
So I was wondering what this folder is and if it´s ok to just remove it, since it kinda is a big hidden folder (over 500mb)
It gets created by VS and is used internally by the compiler. If it's deleted then the compiler will re-create it next time a compile for that project is done. This doesn't effect a compiled program from working.

For more info, see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48897191/what-is-the-vs-folder-used-for-in-visual-studio-solutions


If you need to you can use symbolic links to move some of the spew around.
I have 2gb in .vs and another 2gb in my version control and 4 more in debug and.... this stuff multiplies rapidly as your projects get bigger...
The folder is used to maintain the IDE's state of the overall solution/project(s), along with the .vcx files for each individual project's settings. The .pdb files are the object files created as the intermediate step between source code and the executable file.

Deleting the folder won't change or affect already compiled programs. If you do remove the folder reloading the solution file will recreate the folder and set as default any solution settings you might have changed previously.

If you remove the .vcx files you have to recreate the solution/project as if it were a new setup.

I routinely get rid of the .vs folder, the .vcx and .pdb files when I no longer want to muck around with the code files. Deleting them saves a goodly chunk of hard-drive space when my solutions/projects are final.

If/when Visual Studio is having problems with a particular project/solution deleting the .vs folder can sometimes solve the issue without going the "create a new solution/project and add the source files" route.
The .pdb files are actually the 'database' for debugging and edit/continue features.
the compiler to linker intermediate files are .obj. Pch is precompiled header if you use them, those get large too but unlike much of the junk, deletion slows down the next compile a fair bit.

There is a clean function that gets rid of a lot of it.
there is also a documentation ... *.i* can be deleted safely, as well as the target folders (debug, release, whatever else 64 versions and so on) to name a few. You really want to do all this before sending the project to a buddy.
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