Get an execution plan

Every query is optimized by the SQL Server query optimizer, which builds an execution plan — also called a query plan — to decide the strategy the execution engine will follow.

Looking at that plan is how you find opportunities to optimize a query.

There are two of them:

• the estimated plan, more accurately described as the plan before execution;
• the actual plan, more accurately described as the plan after execution.

Estimated plan

• Display the plan before execution by selecting a query in SSMS and pressing Ctrl+L.
• You can also use this button in the SSMS toolbar.

• Once the plan is displayed, right-click the graphical plan and choose Save execution plan as… from the context menu.
• Save it to a file with the .sqlplan extension.

Actual plan

• Display the plan after execution by selecting a query in SSMS and pressing Ctrl+M.
• You can also use this button in the SSMS toolbar.

• Then run the query. Once it completes, the execution plan appears graphically in a tab of the results pane.

• Once the plan is displayed, right-click the graphical plan and choose Save execution plan as… from the context menu.
• Save it to a file with the .sqlplan extension.