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User assistance in SQL Server Management Studio

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW)

User assistance is available in SQL Server Management Studio through the Help menu and Microsoft Learn. The Help menu in Management Studio offers several different routes to information about SQL Server. It also provides access to SQL Server community and Microsoft Learn resources not previously available from within the Help environment. In addition, the Help environment is now configurable to launch either within the SQL Server Management Studio environment or in an associated external window of its own.

The Help interface

The Contents and Index provide functionality and an interface already familiar to SQL Server users. The other options are:

  • How Do I

    Provides a hierarchical set of linked pages containing useful articles related to common SQL Server tasks. The content is organized by component and task, for example, Replication articles, and so on.

  • Search

    Searches for articles, with or without predefined filters. Search in SQL Server is a separate tabbed page. Users can refine their searches with one or more predefined article type, language, or technology filters. By default, Search doesn't use any of the predefined filters, and only articles in the installed collections are searched.

    Users can include online resources in their search by enabling online Help. For more information, see Microsoft Learn and SQL Server communities later in this article.

  • Dynamic Help

    Automatically displays links to relevant information while users work in the Management Studio environment.

  • Help Favorites

    Stores user article bookmarks for easy access later.

Help on Help (Microsoft Document Explorer Help) links users to the documentation about the Help Viewer, but the articles are in a collection separate from SQL Server Documentation. For information about the Help Viewer, select Help on Help from the Help menu of SQL Server Documentation.

Microsoft Learn and SQL Server communities

Help in Management Studio also provides users ways to contact Microsoft Learn and SQL Server-focused communities on the Web for information. You can:

  • Access SQL Server communities from the How Do I page.

  • Search Microsoft Learn and SQL Server community sites.

Access SQL Server-focused communities from the How Do I page

  1. In SQL Server Management Studio, on the Help menu, select How Do I.

  2. The SQL Server How Do I page opens. In the Community Links sidebar, select the name of the community site you want to access.

    Note

    The computer running SQL Server must have a direct connection to the Web.

    Before you can search Microsoft Learn or the SQL Server communities, you must enable online search.

  1. On the Tools menu, select Options. In the Options dialog box, expand the Environment and Help nodes if necessary, and then select Online.

  2. In the When loading Help content area, select an online option.

  3. In the Search these providers list, select the search providers you want to search, and clear those you don't.

  4. Select OK.

Search Microsoft Learn and SQL Server-focused communities from the Search page

  1. On the Help menu, select Search.

  2. Enter your search terms in the Search for text box, and then select Search.

Whether or not you perform a search using the filters available (technology, language, and article type), your search is run against all the search providers you selected.

Launch Help

There are two ways to display Help from SQL Server Management Studio. By default, when SQL Server Documentation is opened from within Management Studio, it opens in a document window external to the Management Studio environment. This window is still associated with the Management Studio; it can respond to some Management Studio events; and when you close Management Studio, the documentation closes as well. Opening the documentation this way is useful when you're using two monitors; you can drag the documentation window to the second monitor, out of the way of work you're doing in the first one, but still easily referenced.

You can also open the documentation as a document window inside Management Studio. This is preferable when you have limited screen space and want to take advantage of Management Studio and its ability to hide windows.

Note

If you want the documentation to be independent of Management Studio, open SQL Server Documentation from the Start menu, and it doesn't react to your actions in the Management Studio environment, nor does it close if you exit Management Studio.

Configure Help and SQL Server Documentation to launch inside the Management Studio window

  1. On the Tools menu, select Options, expand Environment, expand Help, and then select General.

  2. In the Show Help Using box, select Integrated Help Viewer.