How to keep certain Build Variant selected in Android Studio?

Question

I understand from the documentation (reproduced below) that the Build Variants are generated during Gradle sync, but how could I keep a particular one "active" or selected in Android Studio?

Problem is that after checking out a branch I find the selected Build Variant has been reset.

I can not find an "active Build Variant" setting in any project (idea) files.

Have already seen this possibly related question.

Thanks.

Documentation from developer.android.com:

After the [Gradle] sync completes, Gradle automatically creates build variants based on your build types and product flavors, and names them according to . For example, if you created "demo" and "full" product flavors, and kept the default "debug" and "release" build types, Gradle creates the following build variants:

demoDebug, demoRelease, fullDebug, fullRelease

You can change the build variant to whichever one you want to build and run—just go to

Build > Select Build Variant and select one from the drop-down menu.

Answer 1

Updates:

Probably Android Studio 3.3+ is the way to go, as a new feature Syncing only active variant was introduced.

File → Settings → Experimental → Gradle → Only sync the active variant

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Here it is. The one circulated by red rectangle is the active build variant.

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For how to disable the enforced gradle sync:

Go to "Settings" -> "Appearance & Behavior" -> "System Settings"

Uncheck "Synchronize files on frame or editor tab activation"

But remember to click on the "Sync Project with Gradle Files" button whenever you make changes to Gradle.