Database Manager: A Complete Guide
Database Manager is the console inside SQL Planner for browsing, querying, and analysing your databases — across SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle, all from one place. This guide walks through everything it does, step by step.
- SQL Server
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- Oracle
01Opening Database Manager
Database Manager lives in the main SQL Planner navigation. Open it from the top menu — you’ll land on a two-panel layout: your saved Connections on the left, and the workspace tabs (Query, Data, Script, and more) on the right. If you’re already monitoring a server in SQL Planner, its databases are only a couple of clicks away here.
02Connecting to a database
Everything starts with a connection. Each connection you save belongs to your user account, and its password is stored encrypted.
Add a connection
- In the Connections panel, click the green + button to open New Connection.
- Choose the technology — SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle. The form adapts to that engine.
- Fill in the server / host (and port where relevant), your username and password, and an optional default database.
- Pick a colour tag if you like (see below), turn on Encrypt connection if your server requires an encrypted transport, and save.
Your new connection appears in the tree on the left, ready to expand.
Colour-code for safety
A colour tag is the simplest guard against running the right query on the wrong server. Tag environments however you like — a common convention is:
- Red for production — the server where mistakes are expensive.
- Amber for staging or shared test environments.
- Green for local or development.
The colour shows as a stripe on the connection in the tree, and when that connection is active a matching bar appears above the editor naming the server and database — so you always know where a query is about to run.
Tag production first. The one second it takes pays for itself the first time it stops you.
Managing connections
Right-click or use the connection’s controls to edit or remove it. Removing a connection only deletes the saved entry in SQL Planner — it never touches the database itself.
03Browsing your databases
The left panel is a live tree of your servers. Expand a server to see its databases; expand a database to see its Tables, Views, Stored Procedures, Functions, Triggers, Synonyms, and Security. The structure looks the same on every engine, so you never have to relearn where things live.
- Select a database — click (or double-click) it to make it active without expanding. The editor connects to it and is ready for a query.
- Search the tree — use the search box above the tree to filter to a table or object by name when the list is long.
- Select an object — click a table, view, or procedure to target it for the Data, Script, or Lineage tabs.
04The workspace at a glance
The right side is organised into tabs. Here’s what each one is for — the rest of this guide covers them in detail.
| Tab | What it’s for |
|---|---|
| Query | Write and run SQL, with autocomplete, snippets, formatting, and execution plans. |
| Data | Browse the rows of a selected table without writing a query. |
| Script | Read the definition (the CREATE script) of any object. |
| Diagram | See how tables relate, as a primary/foreign-key map. |
| Lineage | Trace what an object depends on, and what depends on it. |
| History | Find and re-open queries you’ve run before. |
05Writing & running queries
The Query tab is a focused SQL editor with syntax highlighting and a few things that make everyday work faster.
Autocomplete that understands your query
As you type, suggestions appear automatically. Autocomplete reads the tables already in your statement, so it offers the right things in the right place:
- After
FROMorJOIN, it suggests tables and views. - In a
WHERE,SELECT,ON, orGROUP BYclause, it suggests the columns of the tables in your query — with each column’s data type shown beside it. - Type a table alias and a dot (for example
c.) and it lists that table’s columns. - It also completes SQL keywords and built-in functions.
Press Ctrl+Space any time to bring suggestions up on demand.
Snippets
Open the Snippets menu for ready-made templates — a SELECT skeleton, a join, an insert, and more. Snippets adapt to the engine you’re on (for example, a row-limited select uses TOP on SQL Server, LIMIT on MySQL and PostgreSQL, and FETCH FIRST on Oracle), so you don’t have to remember each dialect.
Format
Click Format to tidy messy SQL — consistent indentation and line breaks — without changing what the query does.
Run, limit, and cancel
- Run your query with the Run (F5) button, or press F5 / Ctrl+Enter.
- Set a row limit before running so a broad
SELECT *never floods the grid. You can raise it when you genuinely need more rows. - Cancel a long-running query with the Cancel button if you change your mind.
Query statistics
After each run, the status line reports how long the query took, how many rows came back, and how many result sets it produced — a quick read on cost without any extra work.
06Working with results
Every statement that returns rows gets its own result grid. If a query returns several result sets, each one lands in its own grid.
- Sort — click a column header to sort by it.
- Filter — type in the Filter rows… box to search across the whole grid, or use the per-column filters to narrow specific columns. Column filters combine together, then with the global filter.
- Chart — turn any result into a bar, line, or pie chart to read the shape of the data at a glance.
- Insights — open the built-in insights for quick highlights about a result set without writing more queries.
- Export & copy — export to CSV, JSON, or Markdown, or copy the grid (including as Markdown) straight to your clipboard.
Filtering and sorting act on the rows already returned to the grid (up to your row limit). To work over more data, raise the row limit or narrow the query itself.
07Browsing table data
To look at a table’s contents without writing SQL, select the table in the tree and open the Data tab. It loads the rows into a grid with the same sorting, filtering, charting, and export tools as query results — handy for a quick look at what’s in a table.
08Reading an object’s script
Select any object — a table, view, stored procedure, or function — and open the Script tab to read its definition with syntax highlighting. From there you can:
- Download the script as a
.sqlfile. - Copy it to your clipboard.
- Toggle word wrap for long lines.
It’s the fastest way to see exactly how something is built before you change or depend on it.
09Relationship diagrams
The Diagram tab draws your tables as a map of primary and foreign keys, so you can see how a database fits together.
- Drag any table box to arrange the layout the way you think about it.
- Auto-arrange to let Database Manager group connected tables for you; unrelated tables sit below a divider.
- Hover a relationship line to see exactly which columns link the two tables.
- Show or hide tables from the panel to focus on the part of the schema you care about.
- Toggle data types to show each column’s type and length on the boxes.
- Export PNG to save the diagram as an image for docs or a review.
10Object lineage
Before you change an object, it helps to know what touches it. Select an object and open the Lineage tab to trace its dependencies — what it relies on, and what relies on it. It’s a quick way to gauge the blast radius of a change.
11Execution plans
Want to know how the database will run a query before you commit to it? Write the query in the Query tab and click Explain. Database Manager asks the engine for its estimated execution plan — without running the statement — and shows it below the editor.
This works on all four engines. You’ll see the plan in the form each engine produces:
| Engine | What you get |
|---|---|
| SQL Server | The estimated showplan, as a grid of operations and costs. |
| MySQL | The EXPLAIN output, as a grid. |
| PostgreSQL | The EXPLAIN plan, as readable text. |
| Oracle | The explain-plan output, as readable text. |
Use it to catch an expensive scan or a missing index early — while it’s still cheap to fix.
12Query history
Every query you run is saved to the History tab, tied to your account. Open it to find that statement you ran earlier, copy it back into the editor, and run it again. You can clear your history whenever you want a clean slate.
13Keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| F5 | Run the query |
| Ctrl+Enter / ⌘+Enter | Run the query |
| Ctrl+Space | Show autocomplete suggestions |
14Tips & troubleshooting
Autocomplete isn’t suggesting columns
Autocomplete needs to know the database’s schema first. Select the database in the tree (a single click is enough) and give it a moment to load — then column suggestions will appear inside your query. On a database with very many tables, the first load can take a little longer.
A connection won’t open
Double-check the host, port, username, and password, and confirm the database server allows connections from where SQL Planner runs. If your server requires an encrypted transport, turn on Encrypt connection in the connection settings.
My result grid looks short
Results are capped by the row limit so a broad query can’t overwhelm the page. Raise the limit before running, or add a WHERE clause to focus the query.
Where did my query go?
Open the History tab — every run is saved there and can be re-opened in the editor.
Colour-code production red and watch for the connection bar above the editor before you run anything that changes data. It’s the cheapest insurance in the tool.