A while back I was given the advice Move your tabs (Object Explorer etc) to the right side of SSMS. Now I didn’t do it at the time, but recently I decided they were right and I should give it a shot. It’s taking some getting used to, but here’s why it’s awesome.

Show/hide unpinned tabs

Pin/unpin the tabs

In the first case your code gets covered up by the tabs, and in the second it’s moving! Here’s what happens if you put them on the right.

Show/hide unpinned tabs

Pin/unpin the tabs

See how much better that is? The code isn’t flipping around or getting hidden! I’m not sure why I’ve always defaulted to the left-hand side, maybe because I’m left-handed, maybe because we read left to right. Either way, I’m switching my tabs to the right-hand side from now on.