Shortcut: Map mode in the SSMS scroll bar

In previous posts (here and here), I’ve described ways to configure the scroll bar in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

There is another key option that I haven’t discussed previously: map mode.

By default, the scroll bar shows the changes, syntax errors, etc:

If you have a long script though, it can be hard to visualize what’s in the other parts of the script. Map mode can help with this.

Right-click the scroll bar and choose Scroll Bar Options:

Below the display options that we have previously looked at is another set of options:

When you choose to use map mode instead of bar mode (the default), the appearance of the scroll bar changes:

You are presented with a tiny preview of the script beside the colored indicator. Obviously you can’t read that but it can help to visualize the position of the code you are working on within the script.

If you hover over any code section though, it then shows you that code in a preview window:

2018-05-12