SolidWorks

Tips and Tricks

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 Index

•General
•Interface
•Visualization / Display
•Sketch
•Selection Methods
•Features
•Assemblies
•Drawings
•File Management
•Performance (Speed)
•Sources of Information
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 General Tips

•Go To
•Will find text in the Feature Manager, available via RMB
•Works in both assemblies and parts
•Reload
•Available via RMB or menu File, Reload. Functions as if you closed the document
without saving and reopened.
•Also useful for reloading to change the Read/Write status.
•Ctrl-TAB
•Cycles through open SW documents
•Also works in other Windows applications
•Alt-TAB
•Cycles through open applications
•Thumbnails
•In (win XP and 2000) Windows Explorer, use the Thumbnail setting under Views.
These are larger and faster than the Solidworks Thumbnails
•Turn off the SW Thumbnails
•Ctrl-Q
•“Forced rebuild”
•There is no other menu or toolbar method to invoke this command
•The regular rebuild rebuilds only what SW thinks needs to be rebuilt, but the Forced
Rebuild rebuilds everything whether it “needs” it or not
•Fixes a lot of odd errors or discrepancies
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 Interface tips

•Single Command per Pick

•Tools, Options. Turns off a tool after a single use. For example, when you draw one
line, the line tool will turn itself off. Multiple commands per pick can be enabled by
double clicking the command icon.
•Standard Hotkeys
•SolidWorks standard hotkeys are listed in the attached Excel file
•Custom Hotkeys
•Easy to create, helps unclutter the screen. Keep track of them using an Excel file.

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 Visualization/Display Tips

•Normal To with face on top option

•Click “normal to” face, ctrl click “face on top” face, hit “Normal To” button

•Click Normal To button twice

•To get the opposite Normal To view

•Zoom to Selection
•Available from toolbar or RMB. Zooms to whatever is selected.

•Arrow buttons
•Arrow = rotate 15 degrees (settable in Tools, Options)
•Shift-Arrow = rotate 90 degrees
•Ctrl-arrow = pan
•Alt-arrow = spin around screen center

•Center of Rotation
•Click on a vertex, edge or face with the MMB to establish a new center of rotation
for the view

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 Visualization/Display Tips

•Rotate / Zoom about screen center

•Switches available in the View, Modify menu
•(rotate) Great for long parts with the part center off the screen
•(zoom) Great if you don’t like the zoom to cursor scroll wheel function

•Splitter bars
•Split the main graphics window using the splitter bars in the upper right and lower
left

•Multiple windows of a single document

•Via the menu, use Window, New Window to make a second window of the active
document

•Close the Feature Manager window

•Use a hotkey/macro combination to close the feature manager (macro available on
my website)

•Split the Feature Manager

•Use the splitter bar at the top of the Feature Manager or use hotkey/macro
combination (macro available at my website)

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 Sketch Tips

•Arc length
•Click arc endpoints and the arc itself with the dimension tool, then place the arc
length dimension
•Angle dim using points
•With the dimension tool, click the vertex of the dimension, then two points on the
sides of the angle
•Modify Sketch
•Allows you to move, rotate, scale and mirror sketches with no external relations.
Available via toolbar or menu Tools, Sketch Tools, Modify
•Move/Size Features
•Allows you to drag unconstrained sketches without editing sketch
•Also gives a feature preview while working in a sketch
•Override dims on drag/move
•Available via menu Tools, Sketch Settings
•Allows you to drag fully defined sketches
•Autodimension
•Available via RMB with the dimension tool on
•Select a reference for X and Y directions
•Ordinate, Baseline and Chain styles available
•Scan Equal
•Available via menu Tools, Relations
•Scans lines and arcs for equal lengths and radii respectively
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 Sketch Tips

•Constrain All
•Available via menu Tools, Relations
•Only available when there are no relations on any sketch entities
•Applies only auto-relation type sketch relations
•Automatic Inferencing lines
•Available via menu Tools, Sketch Settings
•Turns off dotted blue inferencing lines as well as automatic relations
•Can be temporarily turned on while sketching by using the Ctrl key
•Detach Segment on Drag
•Available via menu Tools, Sketch Settings
•Allows you to move a sketch entity and detach merged endpoints
•Move / Rotate / Scale / Copy
•Available via toolbar or menu Tools, Sketch Tools
•Allows you to perform operations on selected entities within a sketch
•Similar function to Modify Sketch
•Check Sketch for Feature
•Available via menu Tools, Sketch Tools
•Allows you to check if a sketch is appropriate for a selected feature type
•Highlights problem areas of the sketch
•Trim / Extend / Delete
•Trim tools also will extend (by dragging to next element) and delete (by clicking
untrimmable element)
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 Sketch Tips

•Sketch Pictures
•Available via toolbar or menu Tools, Sketch Tools, Sketch Picture
•Allows you to place a picture in a sketch and trace over it
•Virtual Sharps
•Ctrl select sketch entities that do not intersect, and hit the sketch point tool
•Select display style in Tools, Options, Document Properties
•Derived Sketch
•Available via menu Insert, Derived Sketch
•Makes a linked, parametric copy of a sketch
•Size is linked to original sketch, but you can position and rotate the derived sketch
using the Modify Sketch tool (external relations are not copied)
•Can be placed onto non-parallel sketch plane
•RMB to “underive”
•Display / Delete Relations
•Available via toolbar or menu Tools, Sketch Tools
•Displays all the sketch relations in a sketch
•Displays sketch relations for a selected entity
•Allows you to sort through relations according to selected criteria
•Measure total length of several sketch entities
•Window or chain select entities and use Measure tool

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 Selection Method Tips

•Window select
•Dragging a box around items to select
•Selection Filters
•Dragging a box with selection filters can allow you select faces, edges, midpoints,
sketch entities, etc.
•Makes it easier to select edges without zooming
•Remember the standard hotkeys for selection filters
•RMB selection options
•Select loops, chains, tangency, partial loops, open loops
•Select inside loop
•Select a face, ctrl select an edge of an inside loop
•Select Other
•Available via RMB where the item would be if visible
•Enable selection through transparency
•Tools, Options, Display / Selection
•Transparent parts are invisible to the cursor if there is anything behind the
transparent face. If there is nothing behind the transparent face, the transparent face
is selectable.
•Select Midpoint
•Available via RMB on edge or sketch entity
•(beware of a bevy of bugs)
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 Feature Tips

•Link to Thickness
•Save a template from a file where the link value “Thickness” has been used
•This will enable a “Link to Thickness” check box in every extrude feature
•Intended for sheetmetal parts, but also handy for plastics or anything with a
consistant wall thickness
•Copy Features
•Some features can be copied using ctrl-drag from the graphics window or the
Feature Manager
•Features with external references may prompt to delete or “dangle” external
references
•
•If you don’t preselect a face before starting the Hole Wizard, you will get a 3D sketch
•If you do preselect a flat face before starting the Hole Wizard, you will get a 2D
sketch
•3D placement sketches allow holes on curved surfaces
•3D sketches have limited sketch relations and construction geometry types
•The safe bet is to always preselect a flat face unless you need to have a hole
perpendicular to a non-planar face

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 Assemblies Tips

•Mate viewing / sorting options

•RMB View Mates will split the Feature Manager and display the mates for a selected
part in the Property Manager lower pane
•View Mates for two selected parts will show in bold the common mates
•If you change to the Property Manager, and select a part, the mates for that part will
be shown
•RMB on the top level of the Feature Manager, Tree Display, View Mates and
Dependencies will show the mates for each part under the part, followed by an
expandable list of part features
•Copy assembly and all the parts
•File, Find References, Copy Files makes a copy of the parent document and all
children
•SolidWorks Explorer allows you to do the same thing, but also allows you to rename
all the files
•Smart Mates
•Easier than you think
•Alt-drag face / edge / vertex to mating entity
•Use TAB to flip the direction of mates (let go of the Alt key before hitting TAB, since
Alt-TAB is used to flip between open applications)
•Best for coincident and concentric mates
•Doesn’t work for angle, distance or any advanced mates
•Also consider using hotkey / macro combination for mates (macros available on my
website)
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 Assemblies Tips

•Moving parts with the Triad

•RMB on a component in an assembly and select “Move with Triad”
•Move a part along an axis
•Move on a plane
•Rotate about an axis
•Position from one selected vertex to another
•Advanced Mates
•In the Mate dialog, select Advanced Mates
•Symmetric
•Cam
•Gear www.solidworksguru.com
•Distance limit (max / min)
•Angle limit (max / min)
•Start assembly with a part or subassembly
•With a part or an assembly open, hit the button on the toolbar or go to menu File,
Make assembly from part/assembly
•Puts the part or assembly into an assembly
•Hole Series with Smart Fasteners
•In an assembly, select a face and start the Hole Wizard
•Use the tab on the right, Hole Series
•Place all Hole Wizard holes normally
•Check “Add Smart Fasteners” box
•Creates in-context holes
 Drawing Tips

•Move dims / Copy dims www.solidworksguru.com

•Move = Shift-drag
•Copy = Ctrl-drag
•Make drawing from part / assembly
•In the part or assembly document, hit the toolbar button or go to menu File, Make
Drawing from Part / Assembly
•Works well with predefined views
•Predefined Views
•Insert, Drawing View, Predefined
•Place predefined views on a template so that when a part or assembly is put onto
the drawing, it populates all the views with predefined orientations.
•Blank Views
•Insert blank views for imported line geometry or 2D sketches
•Multiple Leader notes
•Select a note, then ctrl-drag the handle on the end of the leader to create multiple
leaders
•Ctrl-select items before making a note to get multiple attachment points
•Rotating views
•Click in a view and use the Rotate View command on the View toolbar, just like
rotating a part or assembly
•Click on an edge that you want to make horizontal or vertical and go to the menu
Tools, Align Drawing View to set the selected edge horizontal or vertical
 Drawing Tips

•Nudge drawing views www.solidworksguru.com

•Using arrow keys
•Alt-Drag drawing views
•Maintains relative position of related views
•Multi-jog Leaders
•Start at the end attached to note
•Click bend points
•Double click arrow end
•RMB to add new jog points, delete jog points or add new branch
•Ctrl-Drag arrow to add another arrow (different from adding a branch)
•Detail Circles
•To get detail circles to show as circles, turn on Tools, Options, Drawings “Display
new Detail Circles as Circles”
•To get detail circles to show the way they were drawn (ellipse, spline, square,
hexagon, etc.), turn that setting off
•Color Display Mode
•Toggle display of sketched items in drawing views to display in normal sketch colors
or in drawing view / layer colors
•Lock Focus
•Lock View or Sheet focus via RMB on the view or sheet
•Makes sure that sketched entities are associated with the view or sheet
 File Management Tips

•Renaming files
•Don’t rename files from Windows Explorer unless it is a document with no references
(part not used in an assembly, assembly not used in another assembly or a drawing),
or you know in advance how you’re going to solve the problem you’re about to create
•Use menu File, Save As when the assembly is open to attach renamed file to
existing assembly
•Use SolidWorks Explorer to copy or rename files and maintain references
•Multiple copies of files with the same name
•In the SolidWorks Help, look up “Search file locations for external references”, and
notice that there are 13 places where SolidWorks looks for parts when you open an
assembly
•If you have multiple copies of files with the same names, be aware that you may not
get the ones you are looking for
•Use File, Find References to see which versions you got
•Filenaming conventions
•Avoid names like “bracket”, “cover”, “base”, etc.
•SolidWorks can only have one part with a given name open at a time
•The second part with the same name as another open part will use the first opened
part
•It is best practice to use sequential part numbers in such a way that you can
guarantee that there will not be any duplicate file names

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 Performance Tips

•Software OpenGL
•Tools, Options, Performance
•Turn this on to debug video problems, or if you use a non-OpenGL graphics card
•Turn it off if you have a good graphics card for better video performance
•It can only be changed when no documents are open
•Lightweight assemblies
•If you work on large assemblies and don’t need to make changes to all of the parts,
Lightweight Assemblies may improve your performance
•Large Assembly Mode
•LAM functions are set up in Tools, Options, Large Assembly Mode
•Causes View functions to be unselectable
•Can be turned on/off manually or automatically using a part count threshold
•Edge display and wireframe
•For fastest display, use shaded mode without edges
•Simplified Configurations
•Make simplified configurations for parts and assemblies with detail information turned
off such as cosmetic features, fillets, fasteners, etc.
•System Maintenance
•Don’t put junk software on the machine you use to make a living
•Keep video and spaceball drivers up to date
•Defrag and clear temp directories
•Be careful of antivirus settings www.solidworksguru.com
•Reformat once a year
 Thank You
For More Tips and tricks
Visit www.Solidworksguru.com

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