Following a recent request, this new feature was rolled out to the Current Channel in version 2311 on 29 November.
Versions affected: A2016 (C2R) / 2019 / 2021 / 365
Until now, queries could only be opened in Design or Datasheet view from the navigation pane or using DoCmd.OpenQuery.
Once opened, users can then use the ribbon or context menu to switch to SQL view.
In the updated version, queries can now be opened directly in SQL view in 3 different ways:
1. Right clicking on a query in the Navigation pane and selecting SQL View
2. In VBA code : DoCmd.OpenQuery "QueryName", acViewSQL
3. Using a macro with the new SQL View option
The existing navigation pane menu items still work exactly as before:
a) Open - opens a query in datasheet view
b) Design view - opens a query in the last saved view (Design or SQL) except for SQL-only query types
The Access team also demonstrated the 3 options in this video taken from the AEK conference in October:
The new SQL View feature should be a huge time saver for those who regularly view/edit queries in SQL view rather than the query build editor (QBE).
Many thanks to members of the Access team for responding to this feature request so quickly.
For more information, see my article Open Queries Directly in SQL View (isladogs.co.uk)