SolidWorks User Interface Tips

TriMech SolutionsMichael Jolley – Applications Engineer

Getting it done, smoother.

UI History

2013 Interface Elements

Toolbars

Shortcut Toolbar

Motion Manager

Heads-Up View Toolbar

Task Pane

In-Context Toolbars

Recent Commands List

MacrosKeyboard Shortcuts

Menu Bar

Command Manager

Search Bars

Tear-away Toolbars

Right-Click Menus

Xpert Selection SetsIcons

Status Bar

Units Selector

Errors/Warnings

Mouse GesturesFreeze Bar

Rollback Bar

Instant 3D

Why Bother?

• Make it yours

• “I wanna go fast!”

• Quit hunting around

• Impress your

coworkers

What Can We Change?

• System Options

• Right Click Menu

• Mouse Gestures

• Command Manager

• Et al

System Options

• Search Options

• Enable Freeze Bar

• Customer Experience Improvement Program

• Tangent Edge Display – models vs. drawings

• Automatically Hide Components on View Creation

• Use Specified Colors When Editing…

• Ghost Image on Drag

• No Preview During Open

• Large Assembly Mode Trigger

• Don’t Prompt to Save Read-Only…

System Options

• Default Templates

• Intentionally Map File Locations

• FM Arrow Key Navigation

• Auto-Recover

• Toolbox in Common Location

• File Explorer Samples with Shortcuts

• Search – Disable it if you don’t use it

• Check if Read-Only Items Have Changed

• Show Errors Every Rebuild

Right Click Menu

• Customize Menuo Open Drawing

o Replace Components

• Context Toolbar

• Rotate About Scene Floor

• Live Section View

• Isolate

Mouse Gestures

• Seriously, set these up

Command Manager

• Dockingo Drag or double click

• Change the look

• Disable and Change The Look

Other Stuff

• Pin the menu

• Floating Toolbar

• S key

• Command Search

• View Selector

More Other Stuff

• Select Other

• Assemblies – Tab/Shift Tab to hide/show

• Window Select

TriMech Favorites

6. Automatically hide components on view creation.

7. Enable selection through transparency

8. Selection of hidden edges

9. Default templates

10. Don’t prompt to save read-only referenced documents (discard changes)

TriMech Favorites

1. Use software OpenGL. Seriously!

2. Use Large Assembly Mode

3. Save auto-recover information every

X minutes.

4. Messages/Errors/Warnings

5. File, Locations (ALL of them)

SolidWorks User Interface Tips

TriMech SolutionsMichael Jolley – Applications Engineer

Getting it done, smoother.