A long line disappearing off-screen can make code or logs hard to read. VS Code word wrap changes how the editor displays that line; it does not insert newline characters into the file.
Toggle wrap immediately
Open the Command Palette and search for 'Toggle Word Wrap', or use the editor menu command. The default keyboard shortcut on many Windows/Linux layouts is Alt+Z; verify your keyboard bindings if it differs.
Set a workspace preference
Use the settings interface to configure Editor: Word Wrap. The editor.wordWrap setting accepts options such as on and off, while wordWrapColumn controls the column for bounded modes. Place project-specific preferences in .vscode/settings.json if the entire team agrees.
Distinguish soft wrap from formatting
Prettier, language formatters and editor rulers change or signal code layout in different ways. Word wrap is only visual. If a Git diff suddenly shows added newline characters, a formatter or save action caused it, not the wrap toggle.
Troubleshoot confusing behavior
Compare settings at user, workspace and language scopes. Some file types and notebooks expose different controls. Turn on whitespace rendering temporarily if you need to see whether a line actually ends.
Try this example in a scratch file
Paste a very long JSON object on one physical line into a new file, then toggle word wrap. The screen should display several visual rows, but moving to the file in a different editor will reveal that the text still contains one line. Now run a formatter and compare the Git diff. This is an easy way to understand why wrapping is a personal readability option while formatting is a repository-level change.
Primary documentation: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/settings. Confirm the relevant release and hardware before applying changes to a production system.
