diff --git a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/reports/guided_reports_start.tt b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/reports/guided_reports_start.tt
index ab9478ac45..11cfc366ee 100644
--- a/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/reports/guided_reports_start.tt
+++ b/koha-tmpl/intranet-tmpl/prog/en/modules/reports/guided_reports_start.tt
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@
     .cm-sqlParams {
         color: #11917B;
     }
+    .cm-columnPlaceholder {
+        color: #BF2D5D;
+    }
     #mana_search_errortext { font-family: monospace; font-weight: bold; }
 </style>
 [% Asset.css("css/reports.css") | $raw %]
@@ -1420,22 +1423,32 @@
         }
 
         /* overlay a syntax-highlighting definition on top of the existing sql one */
-        CodeMirror.defineMode("sqlParams", function(config, parserConfig) {
-            var sqlParamsOverlay = {
+        CodeMirror.defineMode("sqlPlaceholders", function(config, parserConfig) {
+            var sqlPlaceholdersOverlay = {
                 token: function(stream, state) {
-                var ch;
-                if (stream.match("<<")) {
-                    while ((ch = stream.next()) != null)
-                    if (ch == ">" && stream.next() == ">") {
-                        stream.eat(">");
-                        return "sqlParams";
+                    var ch;
+
+                    if (stream.match("<<")) {
+                        while ((ch = stream.next()) != null)
+                        if (ch == ">" && stream.next() == ">") {
+                            stream.eat(">");
+                            return "sqlParams";
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    if (stream.match("[[")) {
+                        while ((ch = stream.next()) != null)
+                            if (ch == "]" && stream.next() == "]") break;
+                        stream.eat("]");
+                        return "columnPlaceholder";
+                    }
+
+                    else if (stream.next() != null) {
+                        return null;
                     }
                 }
-                while (stream.next() != null && !stream.match("<<", false)) {}
-                return null;
-                }
             };
-            return CodeMirror.overlayMode(CodeMirror.getMode(config, parserConfig.backdrop || "text/x-sql"), sqlParamsOverlay);
+            return CodeMirror.overlayMode(CodeMirror.getMode(config, parserConfig.backdrop || "text/x-sql"), sqlPlaceholdersOverlay);
         });
 
         var MSG_CONFIRM_DELETE = _("Are you sure you want to delete this report? This cannot be undone.");
@@ -1454,7 +1467,7 @@
 
             var editor = CodeMirror.fromTextArea(sql, {
                 lineNumbers: true,
-                mode: "sqlParams", /* text/x-sql plus custom sqlParams configuration */
+                mode: "sqlPlaceholders", /* text/x-sql plus custom sqlPlaceholders configuration */
                 lineWrapping: true,
                 smartIndent: false
             });
@@ -1476,7 +1489,7 @@
         [% IF ( showsql ) %]
             var editor = CodeMirror.fromTextArea(sql, {
                 lineNumbers: false,
-                mode: "sqlParams", /* text/x-sql plus custom sqlParams configuration */
+                mode: "sqlPlaceholders", /* text/x-sql plus custom sqlPlaceholders configuration */
                 lineWrapping: true,
                 readOnly: true
             });