How to copy data from the SSMS results grid

With SQL Complete, you can copy data from a cell or an entire table in the results grid to clipboard or to a CSV, XML, HTML, or JSON file.

To copy data from the results grid, select the values you want to copy, right-click them and select Copy Data As > file format (CSV, XML, HTML, or JSON) > To File or To Clipboard.

Alternatively, you can use shortcuts to copy data to the clipboard for a specific file format:

  • Ctrl+Alt+Y,C for the CSV format
  • Ctrl+Alt+Y,X for the XML format
  • Ctrl+Alt+Y,H for the HTML format
  • Ctrl+Alt+Y,J for the JSON format

If you want to copy column names from the grid, select the columns you want to copy, right-click and select Copy Data As > Copy Column Names Only or press Ctrl+Alt+Y,N.

If you want to copy column names and types of their values from the grid, select the columns you want to copy, right-click and select Copy Data As > Copy Column Names and Types or press Ctrl+Alt+Y,T.

Let’s take the CSV format as an example and see how SQL Complete copies data to clipboard.

Copy Data As

The output is as follows:

680,FR-R92B-58,Black,375,"1,431.50"
706,FR-R92R-58,Red,375,"1,431.50"
707,HL-U509-R,Red,3,34.99
708,HL-U509,Black,3,34.99
709,SO-B909-M,White,3,9.50

If you need to copy data from a column, add a selection from an empty row, as shown in the screenshot below.

Copy data from a column

Then, copy it to the clipboard in the required format. The output is as follows:

FR-R92B-58,
FR-R92R-58,
HL-U509-R,
HL-U509,
SO-B909-M,

Customize options to copy data from the results grid to the CSV file format

To customize options:

1. In the SQL Complete menu, select Options.

2. In the SQL Complete: Options dialog, switch to Data Export > CSV and configure data export to the CSV file format.

Options

Option Description
Use Unicode Creates a .csv file with a Unicode character encoding.
Show a table header Indicates whether to write column headers.
Quote string Encloses a string in quotes. The recommended options are single quote mark or double quote mark.
Force quote Indicates whether quoting should be optional (if cleared) or added at all times (if selected).
Field separator Defines a field separator by using one of the available options: comma, semicolon, Tab, or Space.

3. To save changes, click OK.