How can you include/reference a file in a project without copying it to the project directory?

Question

I am writing an application in Visual Studio 2008. I have a help file that I want to be included in the output of my project. I want the most recent version of my help file to stay in a folder that is not my visual studio project directory. For example C:/Helpfiles.

I want to include this file in my Visual studio project so that when I build the project I get the most recent version of the file (which is in C:/helpfiles) in my project output. If I just "add existing" and select the help file will it grab the latest version from C:/helpfiles every time I build?

Answer 1

When you go to the "Add" dialog, select the file, then instead of clicking add, click the drop down arrow and select "Add as link":

This will keep the file in the original location and not copy and import it into the current project.