Why NOT to use a “TFS local workspace”

If you use VS2013 (with TFS2013) your VS suggest to use a local TFS Workspace.

At the first view, this seems to be a good idea… but after a depper look there seems to be a bad implementation, at least in this Version.

The main disadvantages are:

  • If you want to use multiple VS2013 instances at the same time (This is a show-stopper for me); quote from Microsoft: “it is more likely to cause problems if you are using a local workspace” (by the way: It is also not supported with a server-workspace; but I never have seen any problems)
  • If you want to use VS2010 within the same workspace
  • If you want to see, which team member has checked-out a file (this is not possible for local workspaces, because there is no “check-out”)
  • If you want to enforce “check-out lock”; especially in small teams, this is a good idea, to prevent merges.
  • If you want to use “Enabled get latest on check-out” (because there is no check-out…)
  • If your workspace contains many files (or Versions of files), then it uses a hughe amount of space to use the local workspace (ok, this is by design and cannot be changed; the same is true for git). Microsoft recommends a local workspace only for less than “100,000 items” (means files and versions).

For more info see also: Decide between using a local or a server workspace