How to get vertical tabs in SSMS?

Question

Is it possible to get the window tabs in a vertical row? That way I can navigate to way more windows directly, using the mouse. I know there are paid tools available, but using them is not an option in my working environment...

I fear this will cost me some precious evenings, making an add-in myself. Can anyone give me a head start? What are the best starting points for making a SSMS add-in like this? Or even better, is there an existing project I can use as a starting point?

Sundown

Why not just CTRL+TAB and not use the mouse at all? – Sessoms

I tend to have a lot of tabs open and have a need to plow through them fast (sort of randomly). So I prefer clicking the tab with my mouse and then keep my finger on F5. – Sundown

This would realy be a great add-in. Something like the Custom Document Well in Visual Studio. Have you found something in the meanwhile, as this thread is open for over an year? – Dene

Answer 1

If you don't want to spend money on Tab Studio, then you can still have your tabs vertically.

Just click on the 'Solutions Explorer' on the top tool bars (or ctrl+alt+L), then drag the appearing window, and nest it into the left of the management studio window, the same way as Object Explorer is there by default. It will list all the files in the 'project' vertically, which will happens to be all your tabs on the top.

Retroactive

My Solution Explorer has 0 projects. How can I get it to "list all the files in the 'project' vertically, which will happens to be all your tabs on the top"? I can only get it to show queries added directly to a project. – Dipterocarpaceous

@Dipterocarpaceous mine shows 0 project as well, but right below that, a 'miscalleanus files' folder is there, and just need to expand that. BTW what version of SSMS is that? – Retroactive

@Retroactive I'm using SSMS 18.11.1. I don't see a "Miscellaneous Files" folder below the solution. If I add a new project, there's a Miscellaneous folder but it's empty. I can't see that opening new tabs has any effect in Solution Explorer. I tried clicking buttons at the top of the Solution Explorer too. – Dipterocarpaceous

Inside SSMS... View -> Solution Explorer – Oddfellow

Answer 2

Uses Visual Studio instead. There is an option to connect to database directly.

Overblown