SSMS Tips and Tricks 3-9: Using the clipboard ring

Two key combinations used by SQL Server T-SQL developers every day are Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V for copy and paste.

But many users of SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) don’t realize that it has a clipboard ring and can deal with several objects in the clipboard at the same time.

Let’s see an example.

In this screen shot, I’ve opened a query window with the source code of the AnalyzeTableColumns procedure from SDU Tools.

I might want to work with the parameters for that procedure, so I double-click and hit Ctrl-C for each of the parameter names.

I’ve then opened a new query window where I want to work. If I hit Ctrl-V, I just get the last value that I copied, as expected:

However, instead of using Ctrl-V, if I use Ctrl-Shift-V, I see this:

I see the previous clipboard entries, and I can select one of them:

This is one of those things that once you get used to it, you’ll wonder how you ever worked without it.

Clearing the clipboard ring

At present, there is no simple shortcut for clearing the clipboard ring. You could close SSMS and reopen it but that’s a bit heavy-handed. I’ve seen someone suggest selecting a space, and using Ctrl-C 20 times but that seems silly too.

2025-07-14