Is there a way to favorite or star frequently-used tables in SSMS 2012?

Question

80-90% of the time I spend in SQL Server Management Studio is spent dealing with the same 5 or 6 tables/views/stored procedures, out of the 100+ in some databases.

It would be wonderfully helpful if there were a quick way to access those few through the GUI, instead of having to scroll all around and toggle the Tables/Views/Programmability folders day in and day out.

In my mind, I'm picturing a favorites or starred tables feature or section, or maybe just a recent tables menu would be a great timesaver.

Is this a feature buried somewhere in SSMS or available in a plug-in?

Dufresne

How/why are you dealing with these tables/views/sp's in the object explorer? – Alsup

Personally I never navigate the object explorer with the mouse. If I have to navigate it at all I use the arrow keys and type the name(s) of the nodes I wish to visit. This coupled with the "right-click" key on my keyboard sorts me out all the way. – Bozovich

Answer 1

I can think of two ways that may help get you to the right objects in the SSMS Object Explorer. Both are SSMS addins.

1) Use the free SQL Search - when you need to locate an object, press Ctrl-Alt-D, type the name of the object, arrow down until you highlight the object, and press Enter. I will suggest to the SQL Search project team the idea to have a "recently used" list of objects as I think this could be a nice addition to the tool.

2) Use SQL Treeo to create your own custom folders in the Object Explorer tree. You can create a folder to put the objects you use most frequently, which could help avoid scrolling through a large list of irrelevant objects.

Summit

Woah, not an exact solution, but SQL Search is everything I needed and more, AND FREE – Dufresne

Answer 2

One way to do this - and I use it all the time for the same reasons you cited - is to set up Filters (one time activity per object type) in SSMS.

For tables, right click the Tables node under your database, and select Filter -> Filter Settings. Then enter your filter criteria and save that filter. Now only the tables that match that filter criteria will be visible in the object browser.

Do the same for other object types like Stored Procedures, Views etc etc. HTH

Proconsulate

I don't see the ability to save filters, and the objects in question don't all share similar enough names that I can hit them all with a single query. Would it kill Microsoft to give us an OR operator? – Dufresne

Why don't you suggest this feature over at Microsoft-Connect? connect.microsoft.com – Proconsulate

Answer 3

Here is one more solution using SSMSBoost add-in, that I develop:

Add-in adds a possibility to place cursor on object's name in query editor and hit F2 to script it of Ctrl+F2 to locate it in Objects Explorer (see picture).

Solution for you would be to create a file with all your favorite object names mentioned and then just use it to quick-navigate/script objects that you want to work with. SSMSBoost additionally allows to create "Workspaces" - sets of documents with predefined connections, that can speed-up restoring the work environment. It also has Recent Tabs and Recent documents feature which restore connections as well (and much more features...). May be it will help you...

Esker

Hi @Andrei, congrats on shipping your add-in! I'll check out the trial. Meanwhile, you have , commas in your pro pricing for USD instead of . (fullstop / period), that could be confusing. I initially saw 150,00 USD and thought it was 15,000 K USD :) – Proconsulate