Microsoft is readying a first public preview of its next version of Visual Studio, called Visual Studio 2022, for “this summer.” And the coming release, as had been rumored, will be going 64-bit.

Microsoft officials outlined some of the coming features and release plans for Visual Studio 2022 on April 19 via a blog post. They noted that this summer’s public preview will include only some of the capabilities of the coming release, with others showing up in subsequent refreshes. Preview 1 will include some of the UI refinements and accessibility improvements in particular.

In addition to moving to 64-bit, which Microsoft officials said will reduce component memory usage and optimize Visual Studio’s current 32-bit design, the Visual Studio 2022 release will include:

• Performance improvements in the core debugger
• Support for .NET 6, which can be used to build web, client and mobile apps by both Windows and Mac developers, as well as improved support for developing Azure apps
• An update UI meant to reduce complexity and which will add integration with Accessibility Insights. Microsoft plans to update the icons and add support for Cascadia Code, a new fixed-width font for better readability
• Support for C++ 20 tooling. language standardization and Intellisense
• Integration of text chat into the Live Share collaboration feature
• Additional support for Git and GitHub
• Improved code search

Microsoft officials also said they are planning to refresh Visual Studio for Mac by moving it to the native macOS UI.  

Microsoft execs didn’t say when they expect the final version of VS2022 to ship. Despite the 2022 designation, the product could ship some time later this year, given how Microsoft names its software and services.