How do we recover the unsaved query window in SQL Server Management Studio?

This is a simple tip to recover your unsaved query window in SSMS.

As a SQL server professional, most of us will work closely with SSMS in a daily basis.At times, we forget to save our work in the management studio and for some reason if the query window closes/SSMS crashes, we will be in a position of “lost everything”. You may be questioned on your best practises. Here is a way to recover the SSMS window content which would save your time and effort.

You can verify the below path and get the files:

C:\Users\<>\Documents<>\SQL Server Management Studio\Backup Files

The above path may change depends on the windows version.

How does it happen?

There is a setting in Management Studio that allows the Autorecover option enabled by default. We can modify the default settings as per our need to reduce the risk of loss.

Go to SSMS -> Tools -> Options -> Environment -> AutoRecover

There are two different settings:

1) Save AutoRecover Information Every Minutes

This option will save the SQL Query window file at certain interval specified. You can set this value carefully on how frequent that you need to save your SSMS cahnges.

2) Keep AutoRecover Information for Days

This option will preserve the AutoRecovery information for specified days.