GitHub for Beginners #7: How to Fix Merge Conflicts in Visual Studio 2026
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Video Description
Merge conflicts sound scary, but they're really just Git asking for help. In this video — part two of our collaboration series — we'll deliberately create a worst-case merge conflict scenario and then walk through exactly how to resolve it using Visual Studio 2026. What you'll learn:
What causes merge conflicts (two people editing the same code) What happens when you try to push and Git says "nope" Understanding the "rejected - remote has changes" error Visual Studio's merge conflict editor (the three-pane view) Current (yours) vs. Incoming (theirs) vs. Result How to manually resolve conflicts The "Accept Merge" button — marking conflicts as resolved Testing your code after resolving conflicts Committing the merge resolution Using Sync to push your resolved code Verifying the merge on GitHub.com
Key insights:
Merge conflicts aren't errors — Git is asking you to make a decision Conflicts happen when the same lines are changed in two places Pull frequently to minimize conflicts before they happen Communicate with your team about who's working on what Keep changes small and focused — easier to merge Always test after resolving conflicts The merge itself becomes a commit in your history
What we'll do:
Start with code that's out of sync with GitHub (Pat's changes from Video 6) Make local changes (refactoring + Copilot removing top-level statements) Attempt to push — and get rejected Pull the remote changes and trigger the conflict Walk through Visual Studio's merge editor step by step Resolve the conflict manually Push the resolved code back to GitHub
Previous Video: Add a Collaborator & Your First Codespace Next Video: How to Fix Merge Conflicts in VS Code ► Full Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGxFXI4dC2sitM2Pt-54nozRs4Bn7yovv Survived your first merge conflict? You're officially a Git developer now! Hit that like button to celebrate. Subscribe and enable notifications — next up, we'll tackle the same scenario in VS Code. What's your worst merge conflict horror story? Share in the comments! #GitHub #Git #MergeConflicts #VisualStudio #VS2026 #Programming #Tutorial #GitHubForBeginners #dotnet #GitTutorial #Copilot
Video Info
- Duration: 7:05
- Published: January 08, 2026
