SQLJobCommander:Documentation/JobMonitor/ViewHistory

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View History

Overview

The Job History window shows the complete execution history for a selected SQL Agent job. It lets you review past run outcomes, diagnose failures, visualise trends over time, and manage historical records — all from a single window.

The window title displays the job name and the server it was retrieved from, for example: Job History for [MyJob] — SQL-SERVER-01.

Opening the Window

Select a job from the main job list and choose View History. The window loads automatically and begins retrieving data. While data is being gathered, a spinner is shown and most controls are temporarily disabled. A status message at the bottom confirms when the data was last refreshed.

Reading the Charts

Two charts sit alongside the data grid to give you an at-a-glance picture of job health.

Chart	Description
Execution history bar chart	Shows the most recent 100 job outcomes plotted as run duration in seconds. Hover over any bar or point to see exact start and finish times.
Total executions by status	A stacked column showing the lifetime breakdown of success, failure, and cancellation. Hover to see count and percentage share.

Chart colours follow a consistent convention:

Colour	Status
Green bars	Succeeded
Red crosses	Failed
Amber diamonds	Cancelled

The History Data Grid

The grid lists every recorded execution event. Each row is one step or outcome record. Job-level outcome rows are shown in your theme's default text colour; individual step rows are shown in a muted colour to help you distinguish them visually.

Column	Description
Instance ID	Unique identifier for this history record.
Start date/time	When the job or step began executing.
Run status	The outcome: Succeeded, Failed, or Cancelled.
Run duration	How long the execution took, in seconds.
Finish date/time	When the job or step finished.
Step ID	0 means this row is the overall job outcome; any other value identifies a specific job step.
Step name	The name of the step, or blank for the job-level record.
Retries attempted	Number of times the step was retried before the final outcome.
Operator emailed	Operator who received an email notification, if any.
Operator paged	Operator who received a page notification, if any.
Server	The SQL server that ran the job (relevant for multi-server jobs).
SQL message ID	The SQL Server message number associated with the run result.
SQL severity	Severity level of the SQL message.
Message	The output or error message from the execution.

You can sort any column by clicking its header, resize columns by dragging their edges, and reorder columns by dragging them to a new position. Multiple rows can be selected using standard Shift or CTRL click.

Filtering the History

Use the filter tools to narrow down what is shown in the grid. The filter count label at the bottom of the grid tells you how many records are currently visible versus the total.

Search Box

Type any text into the search box to instantly filter rows. The search is applied across all columns simultaneously — so you can search for a date, a step name, an error message, a server name, or any other value. The filter is applied automatically after a short pause as you type. Press Template:Key to clear the search.

Filter Panel Checkboxes

Click the Filters button to open the filter panel. Four checkboxes let you hide specific categories of rows:

• Hide job steps — shows only the overall job outcome rows, hiding individual step detail.
• Hide successful — hides all rows with a Succeeded status.
• Hide failed — hides all rows with a Failed status.
• Hide cancelled — hides all rows with a Cancelled status.

Checkbox filters and the search box work together — both are applied at the same time. Click Clear filters to reset all filters at once.

Tip: To quickly see only failures, open the filter panel and check Hide successful and Hide cancelled.

Toolbar Actions

Button	Description
Refresh	Reloads all history data from the server. The filter panel is closed automatically before reloading.
Copy	Copies all currently visible rows (including headers) to the clipboard as tab-separated text, ready to paste into Excel or a text editor. The button icon briefly changes to a checkmark to confirm the copy succeeded.
Resize columns	Automatically resizes all resizable columns to fit their content.
Delete history	Opens the Delete Job History dialog to remove historical records. See below for details.
Filters	Toggles the filter panel open and closed.
Clear filters	Resets all active filters (search text and checkboxes).

Deleting Job History

Click Delete history to open the Delete Job History dialog. The background of the main window will blur while the dialog is open. After confirming a deletion, the history data reloads automatically to reflect the changes.

Warning: Deleting job history is permanent. Ensure you have exported or noted any records you need before proceeding.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Template:Key	Closes the window — unless the search box is focused, in which case it clears the search text instead.
Template:Key (in search box)	Clears the search text.
Template:Key / Template:Key	Copies selected grid rows to the clipboard (standard grid copy).

Status Bar

The label at the bottom of the window shows the timestamp of the last successful data load and how many seconds it took to retrieve and process the data. If a filter is active, this area also shows how many records are visible out of the total available.