Columns 73 are grey while editing COBOL in Visual Studio

Problem:

Columns 73 are grey while editing COBOL in Visual Studio.

How can you control this behavour ?

Resolution:

This is controled by the project properties. In project properties there is an option for "SourceFormat" under the general tab.

If "Fixed" is selected then the Visual Studio editor will gray out the text after column 72 in line with COBOL Syntax rules.

If you switch this option to "variable" then the Editor (and compiler) removes this column 72 restriction.