Is there a way to get column descriptions? I thought that information would be in describe objects.
If you see the table name in Toad in the Editor or most other places, you can hit F4 on the table name and a "describe" window will appear.
You can also do a CTRL+D to get a popup where you can type the table name in to get the same "describe" window.
Thats what I am looking at. Something like this. I would like to know what big_id and little_id is.
How about little_id was the original id for the company. big_id needed to be used after the company got to big to use little_id. Is that not a description? If that is not a description what is it?
I found this while googling "toad column descriptions". It even says description in the screenshot.
That's SQL Server, not Oracle.
It looks like what SQL Server calls "description" is the same as what Oracle calls a comment. But Oracle doesn't create the comments (nor does SQL server create the descriptions). If the person who create the table never entered a comment, then there is nothing that Toad can show you.
Try enabling the comments as I described - do you see any? If not, you can add them if you want by double-clicking on the table name in the schema browser to open the "Alter Table" window. Then you can click on "Comments" and add whatever comments you want for both the table and individual columns. Then you (and others) will be able to see them in the Schema Browser.
On some tables I do.
Let me know if you need more detailed steps on how to enter them.