Competitor watch: shortcuts and export season

This is the daily competitor watch. I take public issue reports, check the actual SQLly code and tests, and fix confirmed overlaps. Ages are as of October 26, 2026; “vendor” means the tracker identifies the commenter as staff, a member, or a collaborator.

First batch: keyboard, focus and tabs

Edit → Tab → Enter Behaviour in Tables Beekeeper Studio

Opened 28 days ago and closed on October 21; last vendor reply 24 days ago. Zero reactions and four comments. Day Matchullis wanted Google Sheets-style navigation where a run of Tab presses followed by Enter returns to the next row. Mohammad Azmi raised the awkward textarea case, then questioned whether uniform cell behavior was worth losing the larger editor. Matthew Rathbone suggested contextual sidebar editors and finally punted until complex-value editing has a better home. SQLly uses a row-editing form rather than spreadsheet cells, and the exact navigation pattern is deferred.

Keyboard navigation in new connection selector Beekeeper Studio

Opened 40 days ago; no vendor reply, ever. Zero reactions and zero comments. Day Matchullis asked for a default selection, Tab and Shift+Tab movement, and Enter to choose a connection type. SQLly's connection editor already uses its standard keyboard-capable selector, starts with SQL Server selected, and confirms the chosen engine through the same selection path as every other dropdown. Already have it.

Hot Key disable Chat2DB

Opened 2 months, 6 days ago; no human vendor reply, ever. Zero reactions and one automated comment. ROBODRILL said Ctrl+Shift+L for New Console made the Windows app unresponsive, while the issue's actual-behavior field optimistically said the console opened. The bot asked which of those things really happened, which is a useful first question on any haunted shortcut. SQLly opens a new query directly with Cmd/Ctrl+N; Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+L belongs to select-all-occurrences inside the editor. Checked: not affected.

RemDev: Esc does not switch focus to Data Editor DataGrip

Opened 13 days ago; no vendor reply, ever. Zero reactions and one comment. Nadia Tarashkevich reported that Escape would not return focus to a database table in Remote Development split mode, although local mode worked. Thierry Goldwaser narrowed it to database-table editors versus ordinary source files. That is a Remote Development focus-routing bug, not a path SQLly has; SQLly's native editor and results grid use F6 for deliberate two-way focus movement. Not applicable.

F4 as switch between table structure and data DbGate

Opened 45 days ago; last vendor reply 41 days ago. Zero reactions and one comment. Ravil said F4 used to switch between structure and data reliably but had become intermittent. Stela Augustinova could not reproduce it and asked for platform, version, installation, and engine details. SQLly does not have DbGate's combined structure/data surface: structure editing is separate, while F6 moves between the query editor and results. Not applicable.

Find across multiple open SQL query editor tabs DbGate

Opened 10 months, 18 days ago; no vendor reply, ever. Zero reactions and zero comments. decarlo-cliff described keeping a dozen or more SQL tabs open and rewriting queries because Ctrl+F only searches the current one. The proposed current-tab/all-tabs scope is precisely the sort of small switch that saves a daily scavenger hunt. SQLly's all-tabs popover filters names and connection metadata, not SQL contents, so the requested text search is genuinely missing and deferred.

Search across all open query tabs HeidiSQL

Opened 4 months, 10 days ago; no vendor reply, ever. Zero reactions and zero comments. Timon-ROM independently asked for Current tab and All open query tabs search scopes, after trying snippets, backup-directory searches, and manual tab browsing. Two products, same request, same dozen-tab haystack. SQLly still needs the content-search version too, so this joins the DbGate request as deferred.

REDO Keybind Missing HeidiSQL

Opened 4 months, 28 days ago; last vendor reply 45 days ago. Zero reactions and three comments. MirshaKai found Redo in the menu but neither a working default shortcut nor a command to rebind. Maintainer Ansgar Becker traced it to one removed editor-command entry too many; jaemin confirmed both familiar redo chords were affected, and Ansgar said the open ticket implied a plan but no timeframe. SQLly has configurable redo throughout: Cmd+Shift+Z on macOS, Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z on Windows and Linux. Already have it.

Keyboard keys not working properly on Linux Qt6 HeidiSQL

Opened 4 months, 29 days ago; last vendor reply 150 days ago. One reaction and eleven comments. Jorge had ordinary letters triggering dialogs or doing nothing until Alt was pressed, while other Qt and non-Qt applications behaved. Ansgar worked through shortcut and modifier-state theories, and TerribleScorpion reproduced the R-key variant on Fedora with two keyboards. SQLly scopes editor and results shortcuts to explicit key contexts and uses standard text-input controls, so typing letters is not competing with global single-letter commands. Checked: not affected.

Tabs are single line regardless if tabs in multiple lines is enabled HeidiSQL

Opened 11 months, 25 days ago; last vendor reply 208 days ago. Zero reactions and three comments. Bo Ørsted Andresen found that enabling multi-line tabs on Linux still left one long strip. Ansgar explained that the underlying Lazarus targets do not implement the property, then tried an extended control that crashed and evaluated another with a different appearance. SQLly handles overflow with a searchable all-tabs list but does not offer multiple tab rows; that exact presentation is deferred.

Keyboard shortcut to delete a line in query editor Sequel Ace

Opened 1 year, 7 months ago; no vendor reply, ever. Two reactions and zero comments. mimoren asked to delete a row from query results without reaching for a mouse. SQLly's results grid binds both Delete and Backspace to stage the selected row for deletion, and the change is reviewed before anything is saved. Already have it.

Overscrolling / Bottom Scroll Margin Sequel Ace

Opened 2 years, 1 month ago; no vendor reply, ever. Zero reactions and zero comments. Riley Paulsen wanted space below the last row so the horizontal scrollbar would not cover the cell he was trying to edit. SQLly's grid reserves a separate horizontal-scrollbar gutter in its layout and hit-testing, and the SQL editor adds five lines of scroll-past-end space. Checked: not affected.

That's the batch: six clean checks, two architecture-specific reports, and four feature entries waiting for an explicit yes. The keyboard remains mightier than the mouse, provided the shortcut reaches the right context.

Second batch: import, export and backup

The second batch is import, export, and backup: eleven reports across seven competitors. Four describe capabilities SQLly already has, one empty-filename bug does not reproduce in its naming paths, and six broader requests are deferred for explicit product decisions. The oldest has spent more than two years asking whether a DEFINER could be less defining.

Backup filename templates with variables Beekeeper Studio

Opened 98 days ago; no vendor reply under the tracker's OWNER/MEMBER/COLLABORATOR rule. Zero reactions and one comment. Moff88 asked for reusable database, date, and time tokens, static separators, sanitization, and a live filename preview so backups sort cleanly without manual renaming. Contributor Day Matchullis liked the idea and suggested saving the template, which is the sensible next chapter. SQLly accepts explicit dump paths and has patterns for batch table exports, but not this reusable backup template, so the exact request is deferred.

Unify export workflow with a configurable wizard and explicit failure handling Chat2DB

Opened 47 days ago; the vendor-authored issue received its only comment from the same maintainer that day. Zero reactions and one comment. openai0229 specified a unified multi-object wizard with format and destination choices, stop-or-continue failure policy, atomic output, collision safety, partial-result reporting, and retry; the follow-up collected related export reports and verification requirements. This is a thorough contract—the completion criteria have their own weather system. SQLly has batch exports, background tasks, and Run SQL File failure policies, but not the single wizard and retry contract, so it is deferred.

Add a data extractor selection submenu to Copy Using Data Extractor DataGrip

Opened 14 days ago; no public vendor reply, ever. Zero comments; YouTrack did not expose a reaction count in the issue response. iguohui wanted to switch between SQL INSERT, CSV, JSON, and other copy formats directly in the results context menu instead of changing the global extractor through the toolbar first. SQLly already keeps this one-off choice where it belongs: the results grid's Copy As submenu lists CSV, JSON, JSON Lines, Markdown, and INSERT without changing the default copy format. Already have it.

Database cannot import by SQL file DbGate

Opened 154 days ago; no vendor reply, ever. Zero reactions and one comment. wangjintianya left the feature-form fields empty but gave the request a clear title, then returned to call it the most important feature. Sometimes the title really is the whole user story. SQLly already has File → Run SQL File and the equivalent explorer action: scripts stream without loading their results into memory, with GO and DELIMITER handling, progress, cancellation, and stop/continue/ask failure controls. Already have it.

Custom filepath to the SQL files folder used for backup DbGate

Opened 304 days ago; last vendor reply 294 days ago. Zero reactions and one comment. TorbenLL said backup and restore worked well but asked for a saved SQL-files folder to avoid browsing every time. Jan Prochazka confirmed the option was missing and said it would be added; the plan is now ten months old, which is one way to persist a path. SQLly's dump dialog accepts a chosen output file or folder, scheduled backups keep their own destination, and the SQL library root is configurable. Already have it.

Backup and restore of MySQL, MariaDB, and MSSQL not working DbGate

Opened 368 days ago; last vendor reply 357 days ago. Zero reactions and one comment. microwaretm expected direct backups from the premium app and found the three-engine workflow falling short. Jan Prochazka clarified that native SQL Server backup was unimplemented, while MySQL and MariaDB backups required the client tools. SQLly already drives mysqldump/mysql for MySQL and MariaDB, and its SQL Server Backup / Restore dialog builds reviewable full, differential, log, and restore statements. Already have it.

PostgreSQL export with Create Database fails HeidiSQL

Opened 67 days ago and closed as completed on October 22; last vendor reply 4 days ago. Zero reactions and four comments. childonline reported that PostgreSQL table export failed regardless of output or data choices and confirmed the newer build behaved the same. Ansgar Becker acknowledged the exporter's MySQL-specific DDL assumptions, scoped an initial database-creation fix, and finally marked it fixed. SQLly's dump options do not yet offer CREATE DATABASE or pg_dump --create, so that option is deferred.

Remember last used directory independently for each function HeidiSQL

Opened 257 days ago; last vendor reply 256 days ago. Zero reactions and three comments. kata32 asked different file functions to remember their own directories instead of sharing one global last path, then confirmed the portable-release behavior. Ansgar Becker asked for the affected release and found a dialog missing its default-folder property. SQLly likewise lacks separate remembered folders per file function, so this quality-of-life request is deferred.

Exported filename comes up empty Sequel Ace

Opened 182 days ago; no vendor reply, ever. Zero reactions and two comments. tombajzek exported a database and received a file named only .sql instead of databasename.sql, across both 4.0.17 and 5.2.1. He attached a reproduction PDF and explained that every filename eventually lost its database name. A backup called .sql is admirably minimal and uselessly anonymous. SQLly's tested dump suggestions include a sanitized database name and extension, while result exports default to results.<extension>. Checked: not affected.

Support mysqldump flags in the Export dialog Sequel Ace

Opened 580 days ago; no vendor reply, ever. Two reactions and one comment. herstand asked for mysqldump's full flag set, citing --skip-definer for invoker views as a concrete use. ryantxr added triggers to the DEFINER-removal wish list, broadening the same portability problem. SQLly's native mysqldump integration exposes a curated set of options, not arbitrary flags or DEFINER stripping, so the request is deferred rather than quietly declared done.

Ignore or update DEFINER when importing functions, procedures, and views Sequel Ace

Opened 790 days ago; no vendor reply, ever. Zero reactions and zero comments. d42ohpaz described imports preserving DEFINER accounts that do not exist on the destination, leaving objects to fail until someone recreates them by hand. The proposed choices include removing the clause, remapping it to an existing account, warning afterward, or offering to create missing users. Two years later, the definer remains very committed to defining the migration. SQLly runs SQL scripts without rewriting these clauses and has no detection or remapping option, so the feature is deferred.

That's the export batch: four capabilities already present, one filename bug checked and absent, and six feature requests waiting for an explicit yes. No partial export was harmed in the making of this digest.