Question: The issue is simple really. Instead of creating folders in Visual Studio, I create a directory structure for my project on the file system. How do I include all the folders and files in a project, keeping the structure?

If I "Add Existing File" on a folder named Services and navigate to a file in the directory structure .. Services > AccountManagement > CreateAccount.cs, it appears in Visual Studio like so: Services > CreateAccount.cs. I do not want this.

I have an entire directory structure worked out already, as I am mimicking our client developers using the same structure for organization. How do I add all the folders and files to the project in Visual Studio? Or do I have to do what most Microsoft users do and "put up with it" and recreate each and every folder through Visual Studio?

Answer: 
You can also drag and drop the folder from [Windows Explorer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Explorer) onto your Visual Studio solution window.
To expand on [Yuchen's answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/35632703/492), you can include files and paths as a link. This is not the same thing as adding the existing items because it doesn't make an extra copy in your project's folder structure. It is useful if you want one canonical folder / file etc to be used in a lot of different places but you only want to maintain one version/copy of it.

Here is an example of what you can add to a `*.csproj` file to create the link

```xml
<Compile Include="$(Codez)\z.Libraries\Common\Strings\RegexExtensions.cs">
    <Link>Helpers\RegexExtensions.cs</Link>
</Compile>

<Compile Include="..\..\z.Libraries\MoreLINQ\MoreLinq\ExceptBy.cs">
    <Link>Helpers\ExceptBy.cs</Link>
</Compile>

<Content Include="C:\Codez\Libs\Folder\OtherFolder\**\*.*">
    <Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
    <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>

```

`$(Codez)` is a Windows Environment variable I defined, you can use the built-in Environment variables in the same manner. 

The last example group is a bunch of content files I need in the final output. See <https://stackoverflow.com/a/11808911/492> and other answers & links there for more on that. 

More MSBuild info at <https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb629388.aspx>