About a month ago, Microsoft released the first preview of Visual Studio 2022. This is the first version of the IDE to be built exclusively for 64-bit PCs, so the first release was focused on finding and fixing issues with the transition. There wasn't a whole lot that was new. Today, though, we're getting Visual Studio 2022 Preview 2, and it brings a lot more new features.

For starters, this new preview is actually localized, so if you speak any language other than English, you can use Visual Studio 2022 now. Preview 2 also brings the refreshed icons and the new Cascadia Code font Microsoft had promised earlier this year. The new icons are meant to be easier to understand, making Visual Studio more accessible.

Microsoft has also added some new productivity improvements in Visual Studio 2022 Preview 2, starting with new Live Previews for XAML and web apps. Live Previews let users make changes in the IDE and see them in real-time in the app they're building. Changes can be made both using the code editor and directly from the preview. Microsoft has also added a new option called Force Run, which lets developers runs an application up until a specific point, regardless of any other breakpoints in the code.

Web Live Preview in Visual Studio 2022

Another big new feature in Visual Studio 2022 Preview 2 is support for Hot Reload in C++ apps. Hot Reload lets developers make changes to an app's code while it's running, and apply them without closing the app. While it depends on the changes you make, you may even be able to apply them without pausing the app at all.

There's a lot more that's new if you want to dive into the more technical details. The full changelog is available below:

If you want to try Visual Studio 2022 for yourself, you can now download Preview 2 from here. You can use it side-by-side with Visual Studio 2019 if you don't want to commit to potentially unstable software.