How can I open a file in a new tab?

TL;DR for Mac users

Step 1: Press ⌘+,

Step 2: Search for Preview and disable Workbench › Editor: Enable Preview

When a single click to a file is made in the sidebar, Visual Studio Code opens it in Preview Mode, which allows you to quickly view files.

Behavior of Preview Mode

• The tabs in the Preview Mode are not kept open.
• As soon as you open another file from the sidebar, it overrides the existing file if it's in preview mode.
• The title of the tab will be in italic if it's in preview mode, just like the below screenshot.

Important!

If you want to edit a file, don't open in Preview Mode, double-click on the file in the sidebar instead.

If the file is already open in Preview mode, then to convert it to edit mode:

• double click on its italic file name in the title bar, or
• press Ctrl-K Enter

Steps to Disable Preview Mode

Criteria:

If you want to disable Preview Mode all together, that is:

• accessing file through side-menu.
• opening quick open menu using Ctrl + P.

Solution:

• Open the Command Palette using the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+P.
• Type Preferences: Open User Settings. This will open the Settings editor. Search for workbench.editor.enablePreview, and uncheck the checkbox (changes are autosaved and indicated with a blue left border).

Additional:

• If you only want to disable preview mode in the quick open menu, uncheck the box for workbench.editor.enablePreviewFromQuickOpen.