Intellisense does not work in SQL Server 2008

If for some reason, Intellisense does not work for you when using SQL Server Management Studio 2008, then check for the following:

1. Go to Tools > Options > Text Editor > Transact-SQL > Intellisense and make sure the Enable Intellisense checkbox is checked

Also go to Query > Intellisense Enabled to verify that Intellisense is Enabled.

2. If you are not able to see intellisense only for the latest schema changes , then you need to make sure you refresh the cache. The intellisense relies on a local cache which you need to manually refresh.

There are two ways to refresh the cache:

a. Go to Edit -> IntelliSense -> Refresh Local Cache and

b. Hit Ctrl+Shift+R

Once you have performed these steps, open a new query window and you should get Intellisense back on your SSMS 2008

Note: If you are using SSMS 2008 to connect to SQL Server 2000 databases on the network, then intellisense does not work for down version systems. Intellisense only works when you are connected to a 2008 server instance.

About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, MCSD, MCAD, MCDBA, MCSE, is the founder of DotNetCurry, DNC Magazine for Developers, SQLServerCurry and DevCurry. He has also authored a couple of books 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls and a new one recently at The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.

Suprotim has received the prestigous Microsoft MVP award for nine times in a row now. In a professional capacity, he is the CEO of A2Z Knowledge Visuals Pvt Ltd, a digital group that represents premium web sites and digital publications comprising of Professional web, windows, mobile and cloud developers, technical managers, and architects.

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