1. Turbo-Charging SSMS (for Beginners)
Nathan Boster Improving - Atlanta
May 2019

2. Nathan Boster Nathan.Boster@improving.com Twitter: @nboster
Improving – Atlanta
BoardGameGeek.com: nboster

3. Keyboard shortcuts to use everyday
Ctrl-R will hide/show the results pane
F5 will execute the query
Or Alt-X or Ctrl-E
F5, when part of the query is highlighted, will execute only the highlighted portion
Ctrl-K Ctrl-C will comment all selected rows
Ctrl-K Ctrl-U will uncomment
Both are examples of “chord” shortcuts
Many “bookmark” shortcuts are “chord”
Column selection, or “rectangular” selection
Shift-Alt-Mouse or Shift-Alt-ArrowKeys

4. Keyboard shortcuts to use now and then
F7 will open the Object Explorer Details window if closed, or make it the active window if already open
Ctrl-Shift-V will “cycle through” your clipboard history, but plan ahead (and it’s only for text from SSMS)
I recommend Ditto instead

5. Tab Manipulation Pin tabs, so they don’t disappear
Ctrl-Tab to “step through” tabs
Click and drag tabs to re-order
Click and drag tab “out” to make its own window
RightClick on tab for “Copy Full Path”
Remove excess text from tabs
Put it in the Status Bar

6. Cool Mouse Tricks Ctrl-ScrollWheel in query changes text size
Ctrl-ScrollWheel in results scrolls side-to-side

7. Cool SSMS Tricks Drag column names from tree
Alt-F1, and how to modify them (“Query Shortcuts”)
Ctrl-Shift-R to refresh Intellisense
Ctrl-UpArrow or Ctrl-DownArrow to scroll page by one line

8. Cool T-SQL Tricks
“Just surround your lines with SELECT ( ) AS T”

9. Tools hiding on your computer
Using Excel to create queries (concatenation is your friend)
Shift-RightClick in Windows Explorer to “Copy as Path”
Delete quotes if pasting in Import Wizard
Save useful queries in Google Drive or OneDrive or OneNote or Evernote or Google Keep or…

10. Tools to download / install
Poor Man’s SQL Formatter - poorsql.com
Ditto – clipboard manager
SSMSBoost (30-day free trial, then loses some features)
AutoHotKey – learn it, live it, love it
Some examples…

11. In conclusion… Shortcuts are your friend Throw away your mouse
Save seconds every year!