When open new file, it always opens in the right column active editor group

Bug Reports
1

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

Similar to this bug: Editors always opened in new editor groups

I have two columns in my window. And it always opens in the right column active editor group, regardless of my current active editor.

I tried fixes in the top link, but none of them works.

Steps to Reproduce

  • Move to left active group.
  • Command + P, search a file and open.
  • File would open in right column editor group

Expected Behavior

It should open in current group (left column).

Operating System

MacOS

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 1.7.33
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: a84f941711ad680a635c8a3456002833186c4840
Date: 2025-10-03T03:28:06.574Z
Electron: 34.5.8
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.1
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Darwin arm64 24.6.0

Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

2

Hey, thanks for the report. This is a known issue that several users have reported. The file-opening behavior in multi-column setups can be frustrating when it doesn’t respect the active editor group.

A few things to try:

  1. Check your workbench.editor.openPositioning setting — try left or first
  2. Make sure you’ve clicked in the left editor group before using Cmd+P
  3. Set workbench.editor.revealIfOpen to true to improve focus behavior

You can access these in Cursor Settings (Cmd+,) and search for “editor positioning” or “reveal if open”.

For now, try right‑clicking a file in the explorer and choose “Open to the Side” to control which column it opens in.

4

Hi, I tried all of these, but none of it works.

I also notice this bug only happens at a one of my workspaces, the rest (local folder or remote servers) looks fine.

5

Maybe you have project settings for Cursor. Check if your project has a .vscode folder with a settings.json file inside.

6

Hi I’ve checked it. There is only a few configs inside, and nothing related.

7

Thanks for the info, we’re looking into it.

8

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