Working with Tables in Table Designer (Visual Database Tools)

New: 17 July 2006

The Table Designer allows you to change an existing database by changing, adding, duplicating, and deleting tables.

Note

If the table is published for replication, you must make schema changes using the Transact-SQL statement ALTER TABLE or SQL Server Management Objects (SMO). When schema changes are made using the Table Designer or the Database Diagram Designer, it attempts to drop and recreate the table. You cannot drop published objects, therefore the schema change will fail.

In This Section

• How to: Create Tables (Visual Database Tools)
  Provides basic steps for creating a new table, naming it, and adding it to an existing database.

• How to: Delete Tables from a Database (Visual Database Tools)
  Describes how to use Object Explorer to delete tables from an existing database.

• How to: Discard Changes Made to Tables (Visual Database Tools)
  Provides steps to discard unsaved changes in a table if you decide that you do not want to save them in the database.

• How to: Duplicate Tables (Visual Database Tools)
  Provides steps to create a new table by copying the columns of an existing table.

• How to: Resize Property Columns in Tables (Visual Database Tools)
  Provides steps for resizing column widths of database tables in the Table Designer as well as for tables that are part of the Visual Database Tools.

• How to: Show Table Properties (Visual Database Tools)
  Describes how to use Table Designer to show table properties, such as Name and Description.

Related Sections

• How to: Save Your Work in Table Designer (Visual Database Tools)
  Provides steps for saving changes to specific tables or to all tables open in the Table Designer.

• Working with Columns (Visual Database Tools)
  Describes what you can do with columns in Visual Database Tools and provides links to topics explaining how to modify columns.

• Understanding Visual Database Tools (Visual Database Tools)
  Introduces the elements that make up Visual Database Tools and provides links to conceptual topics about the various tools and their interactions.