SQL 2005 - Maximum number of characters displayed in each column

This setting in Microsoft SQL server management studio, which has a default setting of 256 characters, caused me to waste almost half an hour yesterday. I was looking in the wrong places trying to troubleshoot my stored procedure and wondering why my data was being truncated. There is no indication in management studio that the text was being truncated either.

To increase the maximum value, open SQL Server management studio and go to

 Tools » Options » Query Results » Results to Text » Maximum number of characters displayed in each column

Note also that there is a "Maximum Characters Retrieved" section under "Results to Grid" section too.