title: "Inline Suggestions" description: "Ghost text completions and Next Edit Suggestions (NES) in the editor" section: "Copilot" readTime: "4 min"

Inline Suggestions

Copilot provides two types of inline suggestions that match your coding style and take existing code into account. Code completions and next edit suggestions are not billed in AI credits.

Ghost Text Suggestions

As you type, dimmed ghost text appears at your cursor — completing the current line or suggesting a full function implementation.

Accepting suggestions:

Tab — accept the full suggestion
Ctrl+Right — accept next word only
Alt+] / Alt+[ — cycle through alternative suggestions (you can also hover over a suggestion to see alternatives)
Escape — dismiss

Prompting with code comments: Write a comment describing what you want, then press Enter. Copilot reads the comment and generates code matching the description:

// Create a Student class with name, grade, and GPA properties
// Include methods for isHonorRoll() and getLetterGrade()

Next Edit Suggestions (NES)

NES predicts where your next edit should be and what it should contain — even in different parts of the file.

Enable NES: Toggle github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.enabled (the VS Code settings reference lists it as true by default).

Navigation: A gutter arrow shows when a suggestion is available. Press Tab to navigate to it, then Tab again to accept.

NES Use Cases

Scenario	What NES does
Typo (`conts x`)	Suggests `const x`
Rename `Point` to `Point3D`	Suggests adding `z` coordinate throughout
Rename variable	Suggests updating all occurrences in file
Copy-paste code	Suggests adapting it to match local code style
Change `&&` to `\|\|`	Detects logical error, suggests correction

Enable / Disable

Status Bar → Copilot menu — toggle inline suggestions globally or per file type
Setting: github.copilot.enable (per language, use "*" for all)
Snooze — in the Status Bar menu, select Snooze to add five minutes; resume with Cancel Snooze (also available as Command Palette commands)

Change the AI Model

Chat menu in the title bar → Configure Inline Suggestions... → Change Completions Model... (or run GitHub Copilot: Change Completions Model). Business and Enterprise users need an admin to enable Editor Preview Features in Copilot policy settings.

Key Settings

Setting	Purpose
`github.copilot.enable`	Enable/disable per language
`github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.enabled`	Enable NES
`editor.inlineSuggest.showToolbar`	Show/hide suggestion toolbar
`editor.inlineSuggest.edits.renderSideBySide`	NES display: side-by-side or below (default `auto`)
`editor.inlineSuggest.edits.showCollapsed`	Hide NES changes until you navigate to them
`github.copilot.nextEditSuggestions.fixes`	NES based on diagnostics (squiggles)

Tips

Open related files to give Copilot more context for better suggestions
Use meaningful function/variable names — they guide better completions
NES is aware of the edit flow, not just cursor position
On metered connections Copilot does not start automatic suggestions; run Trigger Inline Suggestion from the Command Palette