Using the Toolbox

You can select and drag items, text, and controls from the Toolbox onto forms, pages, and designers, and drag items from these sources back into the Toolbox for reuse later. For example, in SQL Server Management Studio you can drag a task onto a Maintenance Plan.

Items in the Toolbox are grouped into sections called tabs. Here is a reference list of common Toolbox tasks and how to do them:

To	Do this
Open the Toolbox	On the View menu, click Toolbox.
Make the Toolbox close automatically	Open the Toolbox. On the Window menu, select Auto Hide.
Make the Toolbox stay open	Open the Toolbox. On the Window menu, clear Auto Hide.
Move the Toolbox to a different location	Open the Toolbox. On the Window menu, clear Auto Hide, and then select Floating. Drag the Toolbox to the desired location.
Hide the Toolbox	In the Window menu, select Hide. (To reopen the Toolbox, click Toolbox on the View menu.)
Expand a Toolbox tab	Click the desired tab in the Toolbox.
Expand Toolbox tabs one after another	Press CTRL+DOWN ARROW to expand the next Toolbox tab, or CTRL+UP ARROW to expand the previous tab.
Create a new Toolbox tab	Right-click anywhere in the Toolbox, and then click Add Tab. Type the name for the new tab, and then press Enter.
Insert a Toolbox item at the selected location on the designer	Drag an item from the Toolbox to the designer or double-click the desired item on the expanded Toolbox tab.
Change the position of a tab in the Toolbox	Drag the Toolbox tab to the new location preferred, and release the mouse.
Change the position of an item on an expanded Toolbox tab	Drag the item to the new location, and release the mouse.
Rename a Toolbox item	Right-click the Toolbox item, and click Rename Item on the shortcut menu.