How to copy a large result set from SQL Server Management Studio to Excel

So you’ve tried copying and pasting the results of a query into an excel file only to get the out of memory exception. Now the fun starts!

There are multiple options to achieve copying data from SQL Server Management Studio to excel however most of them are a pain.

You’ve tried the save as option but the csv and text files have jumbled up content. You could use the Management Studio export function, but this is intended for physical tables not results sets and you might not have the permissions to create tables in the environment. You could use the bcp Utility but you’ve probably read leaving this option turned on represents a security risk. You could create an SSIS package . . . yeah that’s an efficient and effective option when you just want the damn results of an ad hoc query!!!

I’d suggest splitting the result set into chunks. You can then copy and paste the chunks into the excel file without running out of memory. Sure it’s kinda manual but trust me it’ll take less time than the options above.

I’d wager you probably only need the result set split into two, so you’ve to copy and paste twice rather than once. Not that big a deal right? I’ve even provided some code below that will really move things along.

Start by writing your query results into a temporary tablet called #QueryResult, for example SELECT * INTO #QueryResult FROM TableName.

Then all you need to do is determine how many segments you need. NTILE(n) is a function that allocates your output into n segments, each of the same size (give or take rounding when the number of rows isn’t divisible by n).

So this produces an output like:

Id Name Ntile
1 Mickey 1
2 Leo 1
3 Raph 2
4 Donnie 2

Start by leaving n set to the default of 2. Once the data is written to the table #QueryResult run the code below in the same SSMS window the temp table was created in. Running the code should produce the same number of returned result sets as the n value you provided. Use a higher n number to create more segments if you still run out of memory when you try to copy and paste the first segment.

Write your query results to a temp table here
i.e. SELECT * INTO #QueryResult FROM TableName

Set n to how many segments/results set returned you need
SET @n = 2
SET @i = 1

	,NTILE(@n) OVER (
		) AS NtileGroup
INTO #Export
			) AS RowNum
	FROM #QueryResult
	) AS a

WHILE @i <= @n
	FROM #Export
	WHERE NtileGroup = @i

	SET @i = @i + 1

DROP TABLE #QueryResult



So that’s it, you should now be able to copy and paste your results. Maybe someday in the future Microsoft will add the option of saving results directly to excel . . .

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