XML document properties, Properties window
Applies to: 
Visual Studio 
Visual Studio for Mac
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
The Properties window provides basic information about the document that is active in the XML editor. The properties that are available vary depending on the type of XML document that is currently active.
Note
All XML document properties are saved in the solution. As a result, you do not have to reenter these values the next time you open the solution.
Encoding
The character encoding for the file. Changing this property also changes the encoding attribute on the XML declaration, and vice versa. The new encoding is used to encode the file when you save the file.
Input
The input document associated with the XSLT style sheet. It is used by the Start XSLT commands, for example, XML > Start XSLT Without Debugging. A document can be selected using the browse (...) button.
This property is visible only when an XSLT file is open in the editor.
Output
The file that is generated when transforming an XML document.
If a file is not specified, a default file name is generated based on the method attribute on the xsl:output element, which determines the file extension. The default file is located in the current user's temporary directory.
Schemas
The schemas to use for validation. The button opens the XSD Schemas dialog box, which can be used to select the schemas to use.
You can also enter the path to the schemas. If multiple schemas are specified, each schema path must be enclosed in double quotes.
Stylesheet
The XSLT file that is used to transform the document when the Start XSLT Debugging and Start XSLT Without Debugging commands are used. If this field is blank, the editor uses the value provided in the xml-stylesheet processing instruction of the document or it prompts you for a filename.
When editing an XSLT file, this property can be used to specify that a different style sheet should be used when the Start XSLT Debugging or Start XSLT Without Debugging command is selected. For example, you may want to do this when you're editing a style sheet that's included in a parent style sheet.