SSMS 21 and My Favorite 4 New Features

GREAT NEWS TEAM! The new SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) Version 21 is here, ready to install, and use. And here is my experience!

I will need the VISUAL STUDIO INSTALLER app to install this and I found that here at this link:

https://aka.ms/ssms/21/release/vs_SSMS.exe

Since I am already using the “Preview” version of SSMS 21, I discovered that this new version is a separate install. Both may be used, I simply uninstalled the preview version. Side Info: Since I work on multiple workspaces, I tried installing the new version first then uninstalling the old one last, and vice versa. The order of such tasks did not matter.

HERE ARE MY TOP 4 FAVORITE NEW FEATURES

IntelliCode Integration

IntelliCode is similar to IntelliSense, but since SSMS 21 integrates AI-based tools, IntelliCode makes suggestions for T-SQL right inside SSMS. It finds functions, keywords, and even joins I may be wanting. I suspect this will improve my coding speed.

Enhanced Tab Group Behavior

Technically this is an existing feature, but it’s been improved upon and works more efficiently without crashing the browser (so far.) A few reasons I like this feature is:

I can work away in one group while monitoring the database in the other.
I can view two separate database instance monitors at the same time.
I can group queries from a single database or project together, allowing me to easily switch between projects.
I can isolate a group of queries waiting for more information and not have them in the way while I work on another group.
I can change the group alignment from horizontal to vertical and add even more groups.

Here is how I set up one grouping today.

3. Updated Query Execution Plan Viewer

Execution plan viewer is faster and visually improved, including support for parallelism and adaptive joins. I can hover over operators to view more detailed statistics, LIVE, while the query is running. The RESULTS pane has been visually updated to make is easier to read, while highlighting NULL values.