How to ignore files/directories in TFS for avoiding them to go to central source repository?

Question

Is it possible to set up files/folders to ignore on a per-project basis in TFS source control?

For example, I've a website with an assets folder that I do not want to go in to source control. These assets are maintained by a separate system. Also, I don't want to put several gigabytes of assets into source control, but I need a couple of samples on my dev machine, but I don't want to check those in either.

If I'm working on this website while bound to source control and I refresh the tree, these files will automatically get added again

I want to prevent this from happening.

Answer 1

If you're using local workspaces (TFS 2012+) you can now use the .tfignore file to exclude local folders and files from being checked in.

If you add that file to source control you can ensure others on your team share the same exclusion settings.

Full details on MSDN - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms245454.aspx#tfignore

For the lazy:

You can configure which kinds of files are ignored by placing a text file called .tfignore in the folder where you want rules to apply. The effects of the .tfignore file are recursive. However, you can create .tfignore files in sub-folders to override the effects of a .tfignore file in a parent folder.

The following rules apply to a .tfignore file:

• # begins a comment line
• The * and ? wildcards are supported.
• A filespec is recursive unless prefixed by the character.
• ! negates a filespec (files that match the pattern are not ignored)

Example file:

# Ignore .cpp files in the ProjA sub-folder and all its subfolders
ProjA*.cpp
# 
# Ignore .txt files in this folder 
*.txt
#
# Ignore .xml files in this folder and all its sub-folders
*.xml
#
# Ignore all files in the Temp sub-folder
Temp
#
# Do not ignore .dll files in this folder nor in any of its sub-folders
!*.dll