Changing Colors and Fonts in SQL Server Management Studio

It's funny (and human) how much we enjoy tweaking our tools to make them our own. Today we're looking at something so basic we forget about it, picking the font and colors that we'll look at every day as we edit TSQL in Management Studio. SSMS has a serious set of options for changing fonts and colors, ranging from the default font for text (Courier New) down to the color of SQL strings (red). Sometimes the smallest change can reduce eyestrain and increase enjoyment, but figuring out that change is a lot harder than applying it!

Andy Warren is a software trainer focusing on SQL Server, a member of the PASS Board of Directors, and a principal in this site - SQLShare.com.

Mark Hathaway on 10/20/2010

Interesting.

C G on 10/20/2010

Could have used this about 4 hours ago when trying to look over someone's shoulder and read what they were doing.

mark mcnary on 10/20/2010

it's always the little things that drive me crazy. this will make my eyes thank you.

Rosa on 10/20/2010

i wondered if there was an easy way to return to the default or last change made. with distractions always going on it would be nice to just at least get back to default.

Peggy on 10/20/2010

I am trying it right now

Talha on 10/20/2010

i will make database objects bold

74F389721A on 10/20/2010

Good Video !!

Don Gilman on 10/20/2010

Being visually challenged this was great

Jeremy on 10/20/2010

32

289C2664FA on 10/20/2010

Great presentation Andy!!

SQLSharma on 10/20/2010

Useful and concise,as always.Thanks Andy.

Rajesh on 10/20/2010

nice one

Sateesh on 10/20/2010

Good

naveengopinathasari on 10/21/2010

Basic but Good One!...

Victor Vaughan on 10/21/2010

Outstanding

Jason Yousef on 10/21/2010

Thanks

Jason Yousef on 10/21/2010

Thanks

Tahir A. Syed on 10/21/2010

Thanks

Joe on 10/21/2010

This is great info. It would be cool if we could also change the color on each or any grid results field to highlight a specific row.... Thanks for the lesson!

01EFFB45CF on 10/21/2010

Content matched title. Useful info. Thanks!

Laura Sell on 10/21/2010

Would like to know how to add/remove line numbers to the display.

stan on 10/21/2010

The color formatting will definitely help with video tutorials.

Marie F Wilkinson on 10/21/2010

VPN'ing into my system the colors always get screwed up, now I can correct the display, thank you so much!!!

Paul Sprunger on 10/21/2010

Thanks Andy. Sometimes it's the little things in life ...

kinjalkumar on 10/21/2010

Seems that the link is broken.. can you please correct it.

FD928096BE on 10/23/2010

I loved it!

Diana Dee on 10/25/2010

You might also show how to change the font size in the result set. That often is way too small in your videos.

nilesh bilimoria on 11/18/2010

very nicely done

John O'Sullivan on 2/9/2011

a slightly esoteric feature

Blake Wallace on 2/24/2011

Sometimes it's the simple things that make work just a little bit easier (maybe even fun?). Short, concise and well executed presentation. Thanks!

Mike Moreland on 7/11/2011

This post was just what I was looking for. We keep track of what we're doing using MS OneNote and sometimes we mention the SQL script used. The ON OCR wasn't very accurate in identifying those scripts which defeated the purpose of keeping those notes. Changing the font (to Lucinda Sans Typewriter) made a huge difference: test block of 205 characters, 25 errors with default font to only 6 with LST. Thanks!