Import and discover servers

For a single server, see Adding servers. For several at once, the Estate tab's ribbon has an Add menu and a Discover menu.

Add menu

Text takes a comma-separated list of addresses, for example Server1, Server2\Instance, Server3.

CSV file asks for a file, then asks you to pick one column from it. That column's value is used as both the server name and the address; there is no mapping for tags or authentication, so add those afterwards.

Table (SQL Server) runs a query against a registered server or an ad-hoc connection you supply, then, as with CSV, asks you to pick one column and uses it for both name and address.

Discover menu

SQL Server Management Studio reads SSMS's own registered servers files from your user profile and the machine-wide ProgramData folder, across the SSMS versions installed. Server groups in SSMS are not imported: every registered server comes in as a flat list.

SQL Browser broadcasts on the local network and picks up whichever SQL Server instances respond.

Table (SQL Server) works the same way as under the Add menu.

Import results

Every one of these ends at an import results screen. It flags any server that already exists, matched by exact name, and will replace it, carrying over that server's existing tags. From here you can remove rows you don't want, test all the connections at once, or open the security settings for a selection before saving. Duplicate names inside a single import batch will block the save.