SQL Server Management Studio Skin / Appearance / Layout

Question

Can you apply a custom skin / appearance to SSMS? I am thinking something along the lines of a dark theme (black background, yellow font) you\'d find in most IDEs

Answer 1

I decided to try something simple on SSMS 2012:

1. Go to http://studiostyl.es/
2. Pick a theme and download it
3. Follow these screenshot instructions

Note that doing this will only affect the theme of the text editor, not the toolbar, menu, object explorer window, etc.

Answer 2

Here is my dark theme which you can download:

https://stingrae.com.au/dark-theme-for-microsoft-sql-management-studio.aspx

Answer 3

If you are using SSMS 2016 (or later) you can use the Microsoft's own Dark theme once you've enabled it.

You can find instructions at Kyle Parrish's blog post titled Enable "Dark" Theme in SQL Server Management Studio 2016

Answer 4

SSMS 2012 is build on the VS 2010 shell. Thus, it can use compatible ".vssettings" files to apply custom color schemes.

See also http://studiostyl.es/ for a gallery.

Answer 5

For SSMS 18:

There is already a default dark theme which is removed by key. You need to go to following file, go to section "Remove Dark theme" and comment the key out. The you will find the dark-theme in the settings. (Menu>Options>Environment/General - Color Theme)

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\ssms.pkgundef

// Remove Dark theme
//[$RootKey$\Themes\{1ded0138-47ce-435e-84ef-9ec1f439b749}]

I found also a nice solution on a website that has a prepared powershell statement to change this:

powershell -Command "(gc 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\ssms.pkgundef') -replace '\[\`$RootKey\`$\\Themes\\{1ded0138-47ce-435e-84ef-9ec1f439b749}\]', '//[`$RootKey`$\Themes\{1ded0138-47ce-435e-84ef-9ec1f439b749}]' | Out-File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 18\Common7\IDE\ssms.pkgundef'"

( Source: https://www.sqlshack.com/setting-up-the-dark-theme-in-sql-server-management-studio/ )