Introduction to Query Optimization - Inside the SQL Server Query Optimizer - page 16

Figure 1-5: Properties window for the query.
Once you have displayed a graphical plan, you can also easily display the same plan in
XML format. Simple right-click anywhere on the execution plan window to display a
pop-up window, as shown in Figure 1-6, and select Show Execution Plan XML… ; this
will open the XML editor and display the XML plan as shown in Figure 1-7. As you can
see, you can easily switch between a graphical and an XML plan.