What has happened to syntax coloring for SQL queries???

[SuShuang]

What has happened to syntax coloring for SQL queries??? It seems that everything is in color blue which is confusing and hard to read the code...

[Ashwin_DSA]

Hi SuShuang,

As far as I know, there hasn’t been an intentional change to make all SQL syntax appear in the same blue colour. The editor is still supposed to use different colours for keywords, identifiers, strings, and comments, so what you’re seeing is likely either a rendering bug or something specific to your environment rather than a setting you changed.

A few quick checks that often narrow it down:

Check the cell/editor type:

• In notebooks, make sure the cell language is set to SQL (or starts with %sql), not Python or Markdown.

• In the SQL editor, confirm you’re in a query tab, not a plain-text field.

Try a different browser/session

• Open the same notebook or query in an incognito/private window.

• Try another browser (e.g., Chrome vs. Edge) and see if colours look different.

• If one browser looks fine but another shows everything in blue, it’s likely a browser or extension issue (e.g., a dark mode or custom CSS extension).

Toggle theme

• In the workspace, switch between Light and Dark themes once. That forces the editor to reload the styles and can sometimes clear odd colour glitches.

Let me know if that works!

If this answer resolves your question, could you mark it as “Accept as Solution”? That helps other users quickly find the proper fix.

Regards,

[itzaltsol]

Me and my whole team has the same problem. It is super hard to read code now. Changing browsers or going incognito mode does not fix it. Toggling between light and dark mode also doesn't fix the problem.  

[Znaleziatko]

Try switching themes (View - Editor theme). It's not a solution but it worked for me and allowed me to keep working semi-comfortably, just with different colours.

[Ashwin_DSA]

Hi @itzaltsol - Based on what you have said, it looks less like a local/browser issue and more like a problem with the Databricks editor itself, since SQL syntax should definitely not be rendered as a single blue colour.

A couple of quick things you can try as a workaround while we get it properly looked at:

• If you’re in the SQL editor, try toggling the “New SQL editor” off/on in the banner on a query tab and see if the colours differ between the old and new editor.

• If this is in a notebook, try the same query in the SQL editor (or vice versa) to see if the issue is isolated to one surface.

Given that the basic troubleshooting didn’t resolve it, the next step is to get this in front of Databricks support so they can treat it as a potential editor bug. When you open the ticket, include:

• Workspace URL

• Link to an example notebook/query where you see the all-blue SQL

• A screenshot

• Browser + version and OS

• Whether this reproduces in both notebook and SQL editor, and whether the “New SQL editor” toggle changes anything

If this answer resolves your question, could you mark it as “Accept as Solution”? That helps other users quickly find the proper fix.

Regards,

[Znaleziatko]

Same here. Changed out of nowhere today. I work in dark mode, using the Databricks default theme. Yesterday SQL syntax was blue, orange, yellow and white. Today mostly blue and white.

I tried all the tricks listed here, with no luck.

Weirdly enough, other themes don't have this issue and are correctly recognizing different parts of the syntax. So I switched. But it's really frustrating when I've already got used to the default theme colours.

None of the people in my shared workspace reported this issue.

[itzaltsol]

Yeah exactly. In my case I am writing python in a notebook and all of the colors are muted or greyed out. When I define a function the font color no longer turns red, it remains lack. If I cast a variable a certain data type (float(x)) the float part remains black. Very frustrating

[JasonMesser]

Hey all — PM that works on the editor here. This change wasn’t intentional. We’ve identified the issue and are working on a fix now. The default theme should be back to normal soon 🙂. Really appreciate you flagging it! 

[SuShuang]

Hello, any news in this topic?

[Ashwin_DSA · Accepted solution]

Hi @SuShuang,

I believe a hotfix was rolled out, and we’ve reverted the change that altered the default notebook/SQL editor syntax colours. You should now see the original colouring again when using the Databricks default theme.

If things still look off on your side, a few quick checks often help:

• Make sure you’re using the default theme (other custom themes were not changed by this issue).
• Do a hard refresh of the page or try an incognito/private window to rule out cached UI assets.
• If you’ve opted into any preview/Cutting Edge UI toggles, try turning those off temporarily and reloading.

If, after that you still see the new colours, please reply with:

• Your workspace URL (region)
• Whether you’re on light vs dark mode
• Your theme setting (default vs custom)
• A fresh screenshot

and we can dig in further on our side.

Thanks again for the report and patience while we fixed this.

If this answer resolves your question, could you mark it as “Accept as Solution”? That helps other users quickly find the correct fix.