View SQL Server Agent Error Log (SQL Server Management Studio)

In Object Explorer, click the plus sign to expand the server that contains the SQL Server Agent error log that you want to view.

Click the plus sign to expand SQL Server Agent.

Click the plus sign to expand the Error Logs folder.

Right-click the error log you want to view and select View Agent Log.

The following options are available in the Log File Viewer – server_name dialog box:

Load Log

Open a dialog box where you can specify a log file to load.

Export

Open a dialog box that lets you export the information that is shown in the Log file summary grid to a text file.

Refresh

Refresh the view of the selected logs. The Refresh button rereads the selected logs from the target server while applying any filter settings.

Filter

Open a dialog box that lets you specify settings that are used to filter the log file, such as Connection, Date, or other General filter criteria.

Search

Search the log file for specific text. Searching with wildcard characters is not supported.

Stop

Stops loading the log file entries. For example, you can use this option if a remote or offline log file takes a long time to load, and you only want to view the most recent entries.

Log file summary

This information panel displays a summary of the log file filtering. If the file is not filtered, you will see the following text, No filter applied. If a filter is applied to the log, you will see the following text, Filter log entries where: <filter criteria>.

Selected row details

Select a row to display additional details about the selected event row at the bottom of the page. The columns can be reordered by dragging them to new locations in the grid. The columns can be resized by dragging the column separator bars in the grid header to the left or right. Double-click the column separator bars in the grid header to automatically size the column to the content width.

Instance

The name of the instance on which the event occurred. This is displayed as computer name\instance name.

Date

Displays the date of the event.

Source

Displays the source feature from which the event is created, such as the name of the service (MSSQLSERVER, for example). This does not appear for all log types.

Message

Displays any messages associated with the event.

Log Type

Displays the type of log to which the event belongs. All selected logs appear in the log file summary window.

Log Source

Displays a description of the source log in which the event is captured.

When finished, click Close.