Powershell ISE – change indent/tab size + keep tabs

Question

Anyway to change indent/tab size in Powershell ISE?
Something simple like in Visual studio IDE:
Tab size 2
Indent size 2
Keep tabs

Answer 1

Figured I'd share the changes I made to NoSimDash's above code. I actually wrote this not long after he posted his reply, but decided not to post it after I settled on taking the cheap, hacky timer route. (Originally I was looking to have the process triggered
by an event when the user changed tabs)
Anyways, over the last two years it's been pretty stable, so I thought I'd share on the off-chance that someone goes looking for this functionality again.
$psISE.Options.ShowOutlining = $true
$psISE.Options.ShowDefaultSnippets = $true
$psISE.Options.ShowIntellisenseInScriptPane = $true
$psISE.Options.ShowIntellisenseInConsolePane = $true
Set-Variable -Option AllScope -Name OptionSetter -Value (&{
$ClassName = 'IndentFixer'
$Namespace = 'ISEHijack'
Add-Type @"
internal class _Option<TValue>
public _Option(string key, TValue value)
Key = key;
Value = value;
public Object[] Params { get { return new object[] { Key, Value }; } }
public string Key { get; private set; }
public TValue Value { get; private set; }
internal static object[] Opt<TVal>(string key, TVal value)
return new _Option<TVal>(key, value).Params;
internal static readonly object[][] NewOpts = {
Opt<bool>("Adornments/HighlightCurrentLine/Enable", false),
Opt<int>("Tabs/TabSize", 4),
Opt<int>("Tabs/IndentSize", 4),
Opt<bool>("Tabs/ConvertTabsToSpaces", false),
Opt<bool>("TextView/UseVirtualSpace", false),
Opt<bool>("TextView/UseVisibleWhitespace", true)
internal void SetOpts()
foreach(object[] args in NewOpts) {
Setter.Invoke(Options, args);
public MethodInfo Setter { get; set; }
public object Options { get; set; }
public Dispatcher EditorDispatcher { get; set; }
public List<Action> Actions { get; private set; }
public ${ClassName}()
Actions = new List<Action>();
Actions.Add(SetOpts);
public void Dispatch(Dispatcher dispatcher)
DispatcherFrame frame = new DispatcherFrame();
dispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.Normal, new DispatcherOperationCallback(ExitFrames), frame);
Dispatcher.PushFrame(frame);
private object ExitFrames(object f){
DispatcherFrame frame = ((DispatcherFrame)f);
// foreach(Action action in Actions) {
// action.Invoke();
// Actions.Clear();
foreach(object[] args in NewOpts) {
Setter.Invoke(Options, args);
frame.Continue = false;
return null;
"@ -Name $ClassName `
-NameSpace $Namespace `
-UsingNamespace System.Windows.Forms,System.Windows.Threading,System.Reflection,Microsoft.VisualStudio.Text.EditorOptions.Implementation,System.Collections.Generic `
-ReferencedAssemblies WindowsBase,System.Windows.Forms,Microsoft.PowerShell.Editor
return `
"${Namespace}.${ClassName}" |
Add-Member -Type NoteProperty -Name Namespace -Value $Namespace -Passthru |
Add-Member -Type NoteProperty -Name ClassName -Value $ClassName -Passthru
[System.Reflection.BindingFlags] $NonPublicFlags = [System.Reflection.BindingFlags] 'NonPublic,Instance'
filter Expand-Property
PARAM(
[Alias('Property')]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[Parameter(Mandatory, Position=0)]
[String] $Name
$_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty $Name | Write-Output
function Get-IsePrefs
PARAM(
[Parameter(Mandatory, Position=1)]
[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[string] $Key
$oEditor = $psISE.CurrentFile.Editor
$tEditor = $oEditor.GetType()
$tEditor.GetProperty('EditorOperations', $NonPublicFlags).GetMethod.Invoke($oEditor, $null).Options | `
Expand-Property GlobalOptions | `
Expand-Property SupportedOptions | `
Select-Object -Property Key,ValueType,DefaultValue | `
Write-Output
function Comment-Selection
$output = ''
$psISE.CurrentFile.Editor.SelectedText.Split("`n") | ForEach-Object -Process { $output += "# " + [string]$_ + "`n" }
$psISE.CurrentFile.Editor.InsertText($output)
function Fix-EditorIndentation
PARAM(
[Alias('ISEEditor')][ValidateNotNull()]
[Parameter(Mandatory, ValueFromPipeline, Position=1)]
[Microsoft.PowerShell.Host.ISE.ISEEditor]
$Editor
$EditorType = $Editor.GetType()
$SetterInstance = New-Object -TypeName $OptionSetter
$SetterInstance.Options = $EditorType.GetProperty('EditorOperations', $NonPublicFlags).GetMethod.Invoke($Editor, $null).Options
$Dispatcher = $EditorType.GetProperty('EditorViewHost', $NonPublicFlags).GetMethod.Invoke($Editor, $null).Dispatcher
$SetterInstance.Setter = $SetterInstance.Options.GetType().GetMethod('SetOptionValue', [type[]]@([string],[object]))
$SetterInstance.Dispatch($Dispatcher)
function Fix-IseIndentation
[Microsoft.Windows.PowerShell.Gui.Internal.MainWindow] $ISEWindow = (Get-Host | Select-Object -ExpandProperty PrivateData | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Window)
[Microsoft.Windows.PowerShell.Gui.Internal.RunspaceTabControl] $RSTabCtrl = $ISEWindow.Content[0].Children[2]
[Microsoft.PowerShell.Host.ISE.PowerShellTab] $PSTab = $RSTabCtrl.Items[0]
$PSTab.Files | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Editor | Fix-EditorIndentation
function Invoke-ISEFunction
PARAM(
[Parameter(Mandatory, Position=1)]
[Action] $ScriptBlock
$ISEWindow = $(Get-Host | Select-Object -ExpandProperty PrivateData | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Window)
return $ISEWindow.Dispatcher.Invoke($ScriptBlock)
function Fix-IndentationForAll
$psISE.PowerShellTabs | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'Files' | Select-Object -ExpandProperty 'Editor' | Fix-EditorIndentation
# Startup
function New-Timer
PARAM(
[Alias('Handler')]
[Parameter(Position=0, Mandatory=$true)]
$Action,
[Double]
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
$Interval = 50,
[Boolean]
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
$AutoReset = $true
[System.Timers.Timer] $oTimer = New-Object -TypeName System.Timers.Timer($Interval)
$ElapsedEvent = Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $oTimer -EventName 'Elapsed' -Action $Action
$oTimer.AutoReset = $AutoReset
return $oTimer
$(New-Timer {
Fix-IndentationForAll
} -Interval 100 -AutoReset $true).Start()