Fix SQL Server management studio Ctrl+Tab annoyance

In SQL Server 2000 Query analyzer hitting Ctrl+Tab would advance you one query window in the list of open query windows. Unfortunately In Sql Server Management Studio this will display the default Visual Studio Tab overview window. This window has one huge flaw and that is that it only displays the first 25 characters of the description of the open window. Which results in the Case of SQL Server Management Studio in a list with 10 times the same item.

To revert the Ctrl+Tab and the Ctrl+Shift+Tab behaviour back to the way it was in previous versions of the SQL Server client tools you can do the following hack. Close all instances of SQL Server Management Studio and open the following xml file in a text editor:

C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\My Documents\SQL Server Management Studio\Settings\CurrentSettings-####-##-##.vssettings

Note that the ####-##-## characters form a date (most likely the installation/service pack installation date.) and you sometimes can have multiple versions of this file. Updating the file with the latest date should work. (I have no pc's with multiple versions of this file.) In the file look for the following string. (The file will have a few very long lines of text in it.)

<UserShortcuts />

Once you found it, replace it with the xml code below and when you restart Management studio using Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab will once again switch you to the following or previous code window without showing the useless dialog.

<UserShortcuts>
  <RemoveShortcut Command="Window.NextDocumentWindowNav" Scope="Global">Ctrl+Tab</RemoveShortcut>
  <Shortcut Command="Window.NextDocumentWindow" Scope="Global">Ctrl+Tab</Shortcut> 
  <Shortcut Command="Window.NextDocumentWindow" Scope="Query Designer">Ctrl+Tab</Shortcut>
  <RemoveShortcut Command="Window.PreviousDocumentWindowNav" Scope="Global">Ctrl+Shift+Tab</RemoveShortcut>
  <Shortcut Command="Window.PreviousDocumentWindow" Scope="Global">Ctrl+Shift+Tab</Shortcut>
  <Shortcut Command="Window.PreviousDocumentWindow" Scope="Query Designer">Ctrl+Shift+Tab</Shortcut>
</UserShortcuts>

Credit: I found this tip burried in a comment on this page of the Microsoft connect website. So thanks to ayeltsov for suggesting the solution to an annoying problem.