This is the first of a series of posts to go over the properties of SSMS that can be changed. I will post these from time to time, many times after I need to use one of them.
To access the Options, you have to go to the Tools menu in SSMS and then click on Options.
When you do this, you will see the screen below. As you can see, there are a ton of options that you can change. Some are for the Database Engine while some are for SQL Server Analysis Services. Some are even for Azure or AlwaysOn. For this post we will talk about how to change the font size.
Starting with changing the font when you write queries. Under the Environment group go to “Fonts and Colors” then simply change the font size. When you make this change, it takes effect immediately. No need to restart SSMS. As you can see, you can also change the color and the background color.
Although the focus of this post is the Text Editor, you can also use this to change the font in many different aspects of SSMS.
When changing settings, you must be aware that some settings will require that you restart SSMS. For example, changing the Grid Results will require a restart. You will see the message below.
As I said before, you can change the font size of many aspects of SSMS, including the result set. Below is how you can change the size of the Grid font. Simply change the “Show Settings for” to “Grid Results”. Then change the fonts as you see fit.
This is what the results grid looks like with the default font.
Now let’s change the size of the font to 16. As you can see below, the font is larger and easier to read.
Here is an example of what you will see if you change the font for Extended Events. This is so much easier for me to read. This is just an example of the far reach of the Options menu in SSMS.
Font Colors
When writing TSQL, there are many font colors you will see.
Keywords are blue, strings are red, object names are black and comments are green. You can change these if you like. Below is an example of the default font colors.
If you decide you would like to change the colors of fonts, you can do so by selecting the proper word type, inside green box below, and then modifying the settings. This screen also gives you an example of what the text will look like.
I change the font size when I am presenting so attendees in the back of the room can see the code better. I like this option because you can adjust your SSMS environment that works for you!
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