Browsing table contents in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) doesn't seem as easy as it should be. In contrast to other client software I have used, I can't find a way to simply click on a table and view its top rows (i.e. preview it).
The closest is to right click and "SELECT Top 1000 Rows" but not only is that two clicks, more importantly it opens a new query tab. If I'm browsing a lot of tables, I end up needing to juggle a lot of unnecessary tabs.
Is there a better way?
Currently in SQL Server Management Studio there is no functionality like this built in. You are correct that the only way to view the data content is right click on the table name in Object Explorer and SELECT TOP 1000 ROWS. There are some 3rd party tools that might have a PREVIEW functionality but this is not in SSMS.