View with SentryOne Plan Explorer from SSMS context menu doesn't work if Plan Explorer is already open

I am using SentryOne Plan Exporer.

When I right click in the execution plan pane in SSMS, the first option is


View with SentryOne Plan Explorer

Clicking this fires up an instance of Plan Explorer and opens the execution plan.

If I leave Plan Explorer open and then run another query in SSMS and right click in the Execution Plan pane and once again click View With SentryOne Plan Explorer, nothing happens. I would have thought either a new tab or new instance of Plan Explorer would open or a new tab in the already running instance?

Am I doing something wrong or is this a feature?

Well, the best option is to just generate the plan from within SentryOne Plan Explorer in the first place, instead of switching back and forth. You get much richer metrics this way, because it captures a bunch of things SSMS doesn't, including actual costs, I/O, and Index Analysis.

But yes, this was a defect in an earlier release, that came about after the add-in had to change yet again due to the evolution of SSMS and how it works with add-ins.

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#200385, answer score: 9