# Editing files outside the Workbench

To edit a Workbench resource outside the Workbench:

1. Navigate in the file system to the Workbench's installation directory. Go into the workspace directory and open the file that you want to edit with the external editor.
2. Edit the file as needed. Save and close it as usual.
3. Important: Go back to the Workbench, right-click the edited file in one of the navigation views, and select Refresh from the pop-up menu. The Workbench will perform any necessary build or update operations to process the changes that you made outside the Workbench.

Tip: If you work with external editors regularly, you may want to enable auto-refresh. This can be done by opening the General > Workspace preference page, and checking the Refresh using native hooks or polling or Refresh on access option. When at least one of them is enabled, any changes made by external editors will be automatically discovered by the Workbench. Depending on the platform this may not happen immediately for Refresh using native hooks or polling.

### Related concepts

Editors
External editors

### Related tasks

Opening files for editing
Associating editors with file types