Thursday 15 May 2014

SQL Server Intellisense Not Working?

Im using SQL Server 2008 - or to be exact (as sometimes these things make a difference...:)

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (SP3) - 10.0.5512.0 (X64)   Aug 22 2012 19:25:47   Copyright (c) 1988-2008 Microsoft Corporation  Developer Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.1 <X64> (Build 7601: Service Pack 1.

With that said, you should check the following:

  1. With an open query in SSMS > Edit > Intellisense > Refresh Local Cache (Ctrl + Shift + R)
  2. SSMS > Tools > Options > Text Editor > Transact-SQL > General : > Statement completion:
    1. auto list members = checked
    2. parameter information = checked
  3. SSMS > Tools > Options > Text Editor > Transact-SQL > IntelliSense > Enable IntelliSense
  4. With an open query in SSMS > Query > Intellisense Enabled (should already be enabled because of point 3 but just in case...)
  5. With an open query in SSMS > Query > SQLCMD Mode should be disabled (if you want intellisense to work!) This is what caught me out recently and prompted this post. I had set my queries set to open in SQLCMD mode by default i.e. SMS > Tools > Options > Query Execution > SQL Server > General > 'By default, open new queries in SQLCMD mode' = checked.
If its still not working then try the latest services packs, cumulative updates, installation repair or just turn it off and on again. Good luck. Happy sensing!