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Apparently, in SQL Server Management Studio, you can delete servers from the drop down list in the "Connect to Server" popup.
I still had servers from my last employer, servers that no longer existed, test servers... Basically everything I've ever connected to on this laptop.
In the past I've downloaded a small application that was specifically build to clean up that list (so apparently other people have the same problem).
It turns out you can just open the list, hover over a server name and press delete on your keyboard and it'll be gone (without warning).
My life would've looked a lot different had I learned about this some nine years ago 
I'm not sure in what version of SSMS this was introduced, but it seems it's been available for at least five years.
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This is the sort of thing that, in hindsight, should be so obvious - every application should allow you to do this sort of thing.
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Yeah it should be obvious, but I know it wasn't possible in 2005, probably not in 2008 either.
And now that it is possible they've implemented it in a way that's not obvious at all 
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Works in outlook too when you are typing the to: address, allows you to delete old recipients
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I wouldn't feel bad about not knowing it sooner, it's hardly intuitive.
In what other circumstance can you delete something by hovering over it?
The difficult we do right away...
...the impossible takes slightly longer.
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Actually, the SSMS team should feel bad because I (and many others) didn't know this!
It's a huge design fail.
How about a button [Organize] or [Manage] that opens a separate popup which let's you add (for later use) or delete servers.
Should be about a day of work
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Or better, a right click on the selection line ...
I wish Chrome would do that with it's search / address bar: I type "News" and it lists the items I've been to most often with "news" in them - which is fine - but I had reason to go to a very local news site every hour for a day or so, and now it's pushed the BBC and NYTimes down a row.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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In Chrome you can always remove those news items from your history.
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Richard Andrew x64 wrote: it's hardly intuitive.
In what other circumstance can you delete something by hovering over it?
You mean, hover and hit Delete while an item is highlighted.
I've seen combo boxes that keep a typing history do that, browser Favorites (I think IE might've done that at one point if it's not still there)...it's not entirely new. But you're right, it's not very "discoverable"...but when you see in action, you kinda start expecting it to be supported everywhere else. I try to make a point in my own apps to add this where it's appropriate.
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Exactly! 
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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Sounds horrendously dangerous to me - especially without any confirmation dialog.
So I'm typing some SQL into a query window - move the mouse "out of the way" so I don't have the pointer over the query text, and hit "delete" because I want to change what I'm typing... wham! Server connection gone. That might be a client's server I'm responsible for administering, but haven't separately saved (written down) the password; now I'm stuffed, especially if it's 11pm on a Saturday night and I need to do maintenance on that server... 
If the hover/delete combo is obscure, just how obscure will the documentation be that allows me to disable this "feature"...? 
When building a UI, I never provide the ability to delete anything non-trivial without confirmation.
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Where have I mentioned there was no confirmation dialog?
Besides...in all use-cases I've implemented this, the removable items only appear as a result of an action like a right-click, which makes the removable item(s) appear; "moving the mouse out of the way" is never enough to make said removable items appear on their own, so what you're describing is rather unlikely to happen.
You want to talk about dangerous - how about you're in the middle of typing a long paragraph of text, then some random Windows message pops up, defaulting with the focus on OK, and you happen to hit Space or Enter as you continue typing (before you might not even have realized something came up and stole focus away). The dialog box thinks you've confirmed the action it was asking of you, but it was on the screen for such a short amount of time you have no idea what it said or where it even came from. True story, and I can confirm it's happened to me repeatedly.
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dandy72 wrote:
Where have I mentioned there was no confirmation dialog?
SSMS does not give a confirmation dialog using the technique the OP mentioned.
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I was elaborating on a direct response to the message where I said I try to implement the same. If SSMS doesn't prompt for confirmation when deleting something important, then that's its problem, not mine. 
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Sander said:Quote: It turns out you can just open the list, hover over a server name and press delete on your keyboard and it'll be gone (without warning).
I interpreted the "without warning" bit as meaning there's no confirmation prompt...? You mentioned you were adding the same functionality in your own apps... but clearly you're implementing an improvement over Microsoft's attempt!
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Well, I always try to do that much. Sometimes the bar is pretty low.
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In Outlook - you can delete the remembered email addresses that pop up when you start typing in the To box. Far to easy to delete the wrong one though...
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I had a similary discovery, that if you open the Alt-Tab panel of running programs, and keep the Alt key down, you can with your mouse close all those windows that you no longer need by mouse clicking their upper right hand X. It may have been around for many years, but I discovered it a few months ago.
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I discovered that many years ago, by accident 
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If it helps, you can find this info on the `SqlStudio.bin` file (under `%AppData%`).
Here's some PowerShell to help make sense of the file's content: Get List of Servers from SSMS (i.e. historically used connections list from the New Connection dialogue) · GitHub[^]
Add-Type -Path (Get-Command 'Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UserSettings.dll').Source
[bool]$loaded = $false
Get-Item -Path 'C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo\*\Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo.dll' | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName | Sort-Object -Descending | ForEach-Object {if (!$loaded ){try {Add-Type -Path $_;Write-Verbose "Successfully loaded $_";$loaded=$true}catch{Write-Warning "Failed to load $_"}}}
[string]$settingsFilePath = (Resolve-Path (Join-Path -Path $env:APPDATA -ChildPath 'Microsoft/SQL Server Management Studio/*/SqlStudio.bin')).Path | Sort-Object -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
if ($settingsFilePath) {
try {
[System.IO.MemoryStream]$ms = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($settingsFilePath)
[System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter]$formatter = New-Object -TypeName 'System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter'
[Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.UserSettings.SqlStudio]$sqlStudio = $formatter.Deserialize($ms)
foreach ($serverTypeItem in $sqlStudio.SSMS.ConnectionOptions.ServerTypes.Values) {
foreach ($server in $serverTypeItem.Servers) {
([PSCustomObject][Ordered]@{
Instance = $server.Instance
AuthMeth = ([Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Common.SqlConnectionInfo+AuthenticationMethod]$server.AuthenticationMethod)
Connections = $server.Connections
})
}
}
} finally {
$ms.Dispose()
}
} else {
throw 'Could not find SqlStudio.bin. Older versions used MRU.dat... but I''ve not coded a solution for that, sorry!'
}
The connection settings are held in a dictionary, so you can easily use the REMOVE method to pick things out of that list; then serialise to file to persist any changes.
Not quite as easy as deleting through the UI; but useful if you wanted to automate the management of this list in some way (e.g. have scripts preset to change the list according to which system/client you're working with).
modified 12-Aug-19 4:06am.
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First!
Wow, it only took me way to many years too learn this...
Wow, it only took me way to many years two learn this...
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Wow, it only took me way two many years two learn this...
Wow, it only took me way two many years 2 learn this...
Wow, it only took me way two many years to learn this...
Wow, it only took me way 2 many years too learn this...
Wow, it only took me way 2 many years two learn this...
Wow, it only took me way 2 many years 2 learn this...
Wow, it only took me way 2 many years to learn this...
Wow, it only took me way too many years too learn this...
Wow, it only took me way too many years two learn this...
Wow, it only took me way too many years 2 learn this...
Wow, it only took me way too many years to learn this...
Gammr is hard?
To, two, and too | Frequently confused words | Usage | Grammar - YouTube[^]
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Did you forget your meds? 
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Buy his hooks from a second hand store?
Socialism is the Axe Body Spray of political ideologies: It never does what it claims to do, but people too young to know better keep buying it anyway. (Glenn Reynolds)
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Does a modern Captain Hook use web hooks?
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