Free SQL Server tutorials

Learn Microsoft SQL Server Step by Step

Practical SQL Server and T-SQL tutorials for beginners and working developers. Every guide walks you through the real query, the SSMS screens and the result, from creating your first database to stored procedures, indexes, permissions and the error messages that stop your work.

Written by Bijay Kumar, 13-time Microsoft MVP

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380+Free tutorials
13×Microsoft MVP author
18+ yearsHands-on experience

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T-SQL you can copy and runEvery example shows the query and its output
Real SSMS screenshotsFollow each click in SQL Server Management Studio
Fixes for real errorsLogin, connection, conversion and SSMS problems solved

Learn by topic

SQL Server Tutorials from Beginner to Advanced

Each topic starts with one main tutorial, followed by the related lessons readers look for most. Work through them in order, or jump to what you need today.

Getting started
SQL Server Management Studio Basics
Install SQL Server and SSMS, connect to your first server and find your way around the query editor.
Install SQL Server 2022 Express Download SSMS SSMS keyboard shortcuts
Databases & tables
Create a Database in SQL Server Management Studio
Create databases and tables, add primary keys and change a table's design without losing data.
Create a table with a primary key ALTER TABLE in SQL Server TRUNCATE TABLE
Queries
SQL SELECT Query Examples
Read data the right way: filter rows, sort the results and group them into totals.
WHERE clause tutorial ORDER BY clause GROUP BY clause
Joins
SQL JOIN Basics
Combine rows from two or more tables and pick the join that returns exactly the rows you need.
INNER JOIN tutorial LEFT JOIN SELF JOIN
Stored procedures
Create a Stored Procedure in SQL Server
Write reusable T-SQL with parameters, IF…ELSE logic and safe changes to existing procedures.
Alter a stored procedure Default parameters IF…ELSE in a procedure
User-defined functions
How to Create a Function in SQL Server
Build scalar and table-valued functions and know when a function beats a stored procedure.
Table-valued functions Scalar functions Functions vs stored procedures
Dates & times
SQL Server Get Current Date
Get today's date, add or subtract days and months, and format dates exactly how your report needs them.
DATEADD function DATEDIFF function Date formatting
Temp tables
Temp Table in SQL Server
Store intermediate results in local and global temp tables, and compare them with table variables and CTEs.
Temp table vs table variable CTE vs temp table Global temporary tables
Indexes & performance
SQL Indexes
Create the right clustered and nonclustered indexes and speed up slow queries.
Create a clustered index Index best practices Query optimization tips
Views & triggers
SQL Server Views
Save complex queries as views and run code automatically with triggers when data changes.
Create a view in SSMS SQL Server triggers Temp table vs view
Security
SQL Server Permissions
Create logins and users, grant only the access people need, and check who can do what.
CREATE LOGIN GRANT SELECT on a table Check database role permissions
Window functions
Window Functions in SQL Server
Number, rank and compare rows without collapsing them, using OVER and PARTITION BY.
ROW_NUMBER function RANK vs DENSE_RANK PARTITION BY

Quick reference

SQL Server Built-in Functions with Examples

Look up the syntax, see a working example and copy the query for the functions you use every day.

String functions

Date functions

Conversion

Aggregate & logical

All SQL Server functions

Troubleshooting

Fix Common SQL Server Errors

Seeing an error message? Find it below for the cause and the exact steps that fix it.

Connection & login

Query & data type

SSMS problems

What’s the difference?

Reader favorites

Latest SQL Server Tutorials

Free video tutorials

Learn SQL Server on YouTube

Prefer to watch? Subscribe to the Azure Lessons YouTube channel for step-by-step SQL Server, Azure SQL and SSMS video tutorials, with new lessons added regularly.

Bijay Kumar, Microsoft MVP and founder of SQLServerGuides.com

Bijay Kumar Founder · SQL Server expert 13× Microsoft MVP

About the author

Meet Bijay Kumar

Bijay Kumar is the founder of SQLServerGuides.com and a 13-time Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP). He has more than 18 years of hands-on experience building business applications on Microsoft technologies, including SQL Server, ASP.NET, C#, SharePoint and Azure. Before starting his own company, he worked with HP, TCS and KPIT, where SQL Server was the database behind most of the applications he designed and delivered.

Today he leads TSInfo Technologies Pvt Ltd, a Microsoft-focused development company that builds solutions for clients across the United States and Europe. The tutorials on this site come from that day-to-day project work: designing tables and indexes, writing stored procedures and functions, tuning slow queries, managing logins and permissions, and fixing the connection and conversion errors that hold real projects up.

Each tutorial shows the exact T-SQL, the SSMS screens and the output, so you can repeat every step on your own server. You can check his MVP recognition on Microsoft’s MVP site, and connect with him on LinkedIn or X.

13×Microsoft MVP award
18+Years of experience
380+SQL Server tutorials

SQL Server
T-SQL
SSMS
Stored procedures
Query tuning
Azure SQL
SharePoint
.NET

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Learn Microsoft SQL Server Step by Step

SQL Server Tutorials from Beginner to Advanced

SQL Server Management Studio Basics

Create a Database in SQL Server Management Studio

SQL SELECT Query Examples

SQL JOIN Basics

Create a Stored Procedure in SQL Server

How to Create a Function in SQL Server

SQL Server Get Current Date

Temp Table in SQL Server

SQL Indexes

SQL Server Views

SQL Server Permissions

Window Functions in SQL Server