With the recent announcement by Microsoft that they’re removing Azure Data Studio alongside the release of the new 64-bit version of SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), we’re back to SSMS being the de-facto tool for use with Microsoft SQL Server. Out of the box, SSMS (especially SSMS 21) is an excellent tool. It comes with a wealth of features and is the main way that most people interact with SQL Server (unless you’re one of those crazy PowerShell wizards). However, there’s a few things that you should know about SSMS essential settings to make your life just that little bit easier when working with this wonderful tool.
Row Numbers
By default, SSMS does not show row numbers next to your code. That’s not a huge issue when working with smaller blocks of T-SQL. However, when working with larger problems and/or collaborating with colleagues, being able to refer to a row number is invaluable. This is especially important for us here at SQL Solutions Group when we’re in meetings and looking at code. Being able to refer to a line number on somebody else’s screen makes the world so much easier and less confusing.
By default, if you script out a stored procedure (this is sp_WhoIsActive) you’ll see something like this:
Which is fine. However, when you turn on row numbers, you’ll see something like this:
Which makes it much easier to read. To change this setting, go into Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> Transact-SQL and enable Line Numbers:
Scroll Bar
By default in most versions of SSMS, the scroll bar is just a scroll bar. It looks something like this:
That’s OK, it does its job. However, if you’re working with a larger procedure it’s not actually very useful. Instead, enabling map mode for your scroll bar will give you something like this:
Which, when you’re moving around your code, gives you much more control on where you’re going or want to go. The setting for this is also in Tools -> Options and can be found in the menu below:
There are a few different options for source overview, so have a play and see which ones you prefer.
Tab Management
One of the most frustrating things when working in SSMS is losing the tab you were looking for. They’re never where you expect them, and finding that one tab is always a nightmare. You can already pin tabs; however, it doesn’t take long to run out of screen real estate.
One trick you can do is to pin tabs to a separate row. This separates them from the noise and makes them much easier to find.
The first tab here is pinned, but it doesn’t really stick out vs the rest of the tabs
Whereas, there’s a handy little setting to show pinned tabs on a separate row, which looks something like this:
This can be found (surprise, surprise) in Tools -> Options:
A very helpful feature that’s new in SSMS 21 is the ability to show multiple rows of tabs at once. This is great because rather than dealing with that damned menu to select your tabs …
… you can see them all at once, which ends up looking something like this:
In Tools -> Options, you’ll want this setting;
Vertical Tabs
This is another feature that’s new in SSMS 21, but we now have the choice where our tabs are located. We have the traditional Top as an option, but we can now have them on the left or the right of our screen.
Here’s an example of me snapping my tabs to the right of the screen:
This is likely to take a while to get used to but, it’s enormously beneficial when dealing with an investigation or similar task where multiple tabs are just an unavoidable fact of life.
One feature I like in particular here is that pinned tabs persist when used with the ‘show pinned tabs in a separate row’ setting and stay in their own section at the top of the screen.
Yep … find it in Tools -> Options:
Themes
Last, but not least, we now have themes available in SSMS. This is both much nicer on the eyes (hello, dark mode) but also gives a lot of accessibility options.
Themes have their own menu in Tools:
The dark theme is a particular favourite and, I suspect, going to be very popular:
There’s also a bunch of Accessibility choices in Tools -> Options where you can customize fonts and so you can set it exactly how you need/want.
Now go have fun with these SSMS essential settings, you crazy cat!
