Question

Is there way to automatically maximize the output window on hitting build and then to automatically restore to previous state when the build completes?

Answer 1

I could implement a solution using a combination of macros.

Part of the solution is in this SO question:
OnBuildBegin does not fire in Visual Studio Macro until I run it from Macro Explorer

And the other part is to use 2 exported window settings and to toggle them on build events.

Something like:

Public Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildBegin() Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildBegin
      DTE.ExecuteCommand("Tools.ImportandExportSettings", "-import:C:\Development\VsSettings\build_inprocess.vssettings")
End Sub

Private Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildDone(ByVal Scope As EnvDTE.vsBuildScope, ByVal Action As EnvDTE.vsBuildAction) _
    Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildDone
    DTE.ExecuteCommand("Tools.ImportandExportSettings", "-import:C:\Development\VsSettings\Two_Screen.vssettings")
End Sub