Management Studio (SSMS)

SQLServerCentral Article

Working with Indexes on SSMS

  • Article

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 […]

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2025-09-02 (first published: )

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Technical Article

Dark Mode in SSMS 21 and overall first impressions

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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.

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2025-02-10

SQLServerCentral Article

A First Look at SSMS 21

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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 […]

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2024-11-25

18,317 reads

SQLServerCentral Article

Using Registered Servers in SSMS

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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 […]

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2024-07-31

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The Decoded Value

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Question of the Day

The Decoded Value

In SQL Server 2025, what is returned from this code:

DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!';
DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX);

SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(CAST(@message AS VARBINARY(1000)));
SELECT BASE64_DECODE(@encoded) 

See possible answers