When I was at SQLBits the other week, I was introduced to Redgate's SQL Search tool via their lunchtime session about Source Control in databases.

SQL Search is a free tool which helps to:

• Find fragments of SQL text within stored procedures, functions, views and more
• Quickly navigate to objects wherever they happen to be on your servers
• Find all references to an object
• Integrates with SSMS

I installed it on my machine a few days later and have had it happily running ever since, with no errors and no noticeable slowing of Management studio. I've come to use it quite a bit in my development process, mostly for looking for stored procedures as I find the process of

• type in a bit of a name of the procedure in the search box
• hit return
• look at the results returned
• click on the one that I want
• if necessary, click on the "Select object in Object Explorer" link

to be a lot quicker than typing

SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.ROUTINES WHERE ROUTINE_NAME LIKE '%bit of a name of the procedure%'

and then navigating through the object explorer to find the relevant object.

The scope of the search can be narrowed to a specific object type on a specific database, or left open to every object type on every database on the instance.