How do I get a console project to group my appsettings.json files?

In the project file of your solution you can edit or add an <ItemGroup> element within the <Project> element. This worked for me:

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="appsettings.json">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="appsettings.*.json">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
      <DependentUpon>appsettings.json</DependentUpon>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>

Please Note that my console project targets .Net Core 2.0 and is running in Visual Studio Pro 2017 Version 15.7.5.
Also, if your Solution Explorer doesn’t immediately refresh try unloading and reloading the project.