Visual Studio: How to “Copy to Output Directory” without copying the folder structure?

Question

I have a few dll files in \\lib folder of my project folder. In the property page of dll, I have selected \"Build Action\" as \"Content\" and \"Copy to Output Directory\" as

Answer 1

If your main intent is to include DLLs without cluttering up the project root directory, another solution is to move the DLLs to a separate Shared Project and add this as a reference in the original project.

(Note that this post doesn't directly answer this question as it doesn't preserve the folder and project structure, but I found this approach useful because I was able to restructure my project in my case and because I wanted to avoid some of the downsides of the other approaches here.)

Steps

• Right-click your Solution -> Add -> New Project -> Shared Project
• Add the DLLs to this project (in the root directory of this project, not in a "lib" sub-folder)
• (Check DLL file properties are set correctly, e.g. Build Action: Content and Copy to Output Directory: Copy Always)
• Right-click the original project's References -> Add Reference -> Shared Projects
• Select the shared project you created earlier

The setup looks like this: