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
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:
- Check your
workbench.editor.openPositioning setting — try left or first
- Make sure you’ve clicked in the left editor group before using Cmd+P
- 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.
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.
Maybe you have project settings for Cursor. Check if your project has a .vscode folder with a settings.json file inside.
Hi I’ve checked it. There is only a few configs inside, and nothing related.
Thanks for the info, we’re looking into it.