2025-12-22
8,903 reads
Management Studio (SSMS)
Working with Indexes on SSMS
Overview In SQL Server, indexing is a technique used to improve the performance of queries by reducing the amount of data that SQL Server needs to scan. You can think of it like a table of contents in a book—it helps SQL Server find data more quickly. In this article, we will cover the following […]
2025-09-02 (first published: 2025-08-07)
4,385 reads
Helpful Management Studio Settings and Features
Learn a few tips and tricks to make your work with SSMS much more efficient and helpful.
2025-05-19
5,309 reads
2025-02-14 (first published: 2025-02-12)
813 reads
Dark Mode in SSMS 21 and overall first impressions
Let me cut to the chase. If you are like me, you may have been searching for: How to turn on Dark Mode in SSMS V21. Searching for that very thing today inspired me to write this blog to help others do the same thing because I couldn’t seem to find an easy answer.
2025-02-10
SSMS Export to Excel
You’re running an ad-hoc query in a Microsoft SQL Server database with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and need to further analyze the result set in an Excel spreadsheet. How do you export the data?
2025-02-03
A First Look at SSMS 21
This isn't really a first look, per se. I've seen Erin Stellato present on this a few times in MVP sessions and at the PASS Data Community Summit. However, this is a look on my machine, where I'm in control. The new version preview was announced recently, and this looks at the new process to […]
2024-11-25
18,303 reads
2024-11-21 (first published: 2024-11-20)
515 reads
Using Registered Servers in SSMS
One of the features in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) that I find very useful is to have a list of registered servers and databases in SSMS. This lets me quickly pick from a number of servers rather than flipping the drop down in the connection dialog. This post looks at this feature and how […]
2024-07-31
6,518 reads
How to Rename a Column in SQL Server
Learn how to effectively rename columns in SQL Server using our comprehensive guide. Explore the use of sp_rename, limitations, and best practices
2024-06-24
7,750 reads
Blogs
Who’s the Winningest Coach (with AI Help)
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I was listening to the radio the other day and the hosts were discussing...
Learning from Mistakes: T-SQL Tuesday #194
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We’re a week late, once again my fault. I was still coming out of...
Stupid Things I Did With AI: ASCII Art
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I ran across this article recently (https://www.gatesnotes.com/meet-bill/source-code/reader/microsoft-original-source-code) and it has a great opening piece...
Forums
Learning From Breakage
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Python in Action to Auto-Generate an Optimized PostgreSQL Index Strategy
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Adding and Dropping Columns I
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Adding and Dropping Columns I
Question of the Day
Adding and Dropping Columns I
I have this table in my SQL Server 2022 database:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CityList] ( [CityNameID] [int] NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1), [CityName] [varchar] (30) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GOI decide to add two new columns for the StateProvince and Country. What code should I use? See possible answers