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Hidden Solidworks commands 20

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SBaugh

SBaugh

Mechanical
Mar 6, 2001
6,685
Does anyone no where I can find a document with hidden SW commands. There are some key strokes and commands in SW that are not always listed in the help, or if they are they are overlooked very easy.

For example a user call me today asking how can he get normal to but from the opposite direction... solution select "Normal to" again and it flips the direction.

This is just one of those basic hidden commands, and I don't know if someone has made a document of these commands or not already.

Thanks in Advance,

Scott Baugh, CSWP [pc2]
Berry Plastics
Cad Admin\Design Engineer
"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"
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faq731-376
 
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From Jason Kerns on SW forums:

To expand the Feature Manager tree, select the top of the tree (where the file name is there) and hit the asterisk key * (works with keyboard asterisk key only not with shift + 8)

Deepak Gupta
SW 2010 SP4.0 & 2011 SP1.0
DriveWorks Pro 7 SP5
Boxer's SolidWorks™ Blog
 
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That is pretty interesting Markku... how did you figure that out?? or were you a SW developer in another life X-)

Scott Baugh, CSWP [pc2]
Berry Plastics
Cad Admin\Design Engineer
GEASWUG Greater Evansville Area SWUG Leader
"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"
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This doesn't appear to work well with SolidWorks 2010. When is the last time you tried this out. The menu comes up, but doesn't open ske files (error comes up instead). When I saved a ske file and put it into the holewiz file, I tried to use it, but another error came up at that point.

Matt Lorono, CSWP
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion
Follow me on Twitter
 
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I did get some errors, but I was able to get an Open Dialog box for the *.ske files.

Scott Baugh, CSWP [pc2]
Berry Plastics
Cad Admin\Design Engineer
GEASWUG Greater Evansville Area SWUG Leader
"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"
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faq731-376
 
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Thanks for the trick Markku [thumbsup]

I can make mine and use them but I can't open the one I made or the existing one... LOL

[peace]

Deepak Gupta
SW 2010 SP4.0 & 2011 SP1.0
DriveWorks Pro 7 SP5
Boxer's SolidWorks™ Blog
 
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Here's one that's changed in 2011 and isn't explained in the Help. To add a decal that isn't in the Decals folder (without PV360) go to the Display Manager, click View Decals, RMB beneath the Open Decal Library button, and select Add Decal... I'm sure they could have made that more nebulous, but I'm not sure how.

Dan

Dan's Blog
 
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When dropping a series of notes into a drawing, the notes will be merged if one is dropped on or near another; holding the Shift key will prevent the merger.
 
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SBaugh: "That is pretty interesting Markku... how did you figure that out?? or were you a SW developer in another life"

Found it years ago from the (surprise!) internet :)

fcsuper:"This doesn't appear to work well with SolidWorks 2010. When is the last time you tried this out."

Propably with 2007, this might be ancient stuff that has not been actively updated by SW and that's why you are getting errors...don't really know.

br
Markku

 
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Here's a super simple one... If you have SolidWorks files open and want to drag/drop another one open, but don't want it associated with any currently open files... (part into a part, or part into an assembly). You can drag/drop it onto the SolidWorks logo at the top left corner. No need to minimize your open files.

Jack L Tate said:
Right-click. It's friggin' magic!
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FAQ376
 
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There is something to the saying "I've forgotten more than most people know." A bunch of these I use regularly. Just picked them up so didn't consider them hidden. Even Markku's trick was one I learned many moons ago and never really used so I forgot it. And that isn't the only one. I think is you search the comp.cad.solidworks archives you might find a few more.

Here are some really hidden ones:

from the solidworks program files directory

sldworks /b "Starts SW. Window is shrunk to about 640x480 size. "
sldworks /d "Starts SW in Developer Mode"
sldworks /m path to macro "Opens SW and runs macro"
sldworks /p "Prints whatever document is given as an argument"

I would say that /b would be useful if, somehow, SW had a window problem where you couldn't get at the edges like when running in a default 640x480 window.

/m can be dangerous or very useful to CAD Admin types. I gave it an argument to a macro that ran and had no way to shut it down. For that SW must be killed (Alt-F4)

And then for some more, that are really windows functionality that almost nobody uses:

On the keypad try + - * when in a fair sized feature tree. They expand and shrink the tree in a context sensitive way.







TOP
CSWP, BSSE

"Node news is good news."
 
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I haven't seen anyone mention this, but if you double click the MMB it will 'zoom to fit'. This is in the solids and dwgs.

I think this was a feature added on 2009 and above - I don't think it worked in 2008 and below...someone can confirm?

OFS Brands
South Central Indiana
 
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