SolidWorks over time

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1 You can use CTRL+TAB to cycle through the files opened in SolidWorks. 2 Use the direction keys to rotate the model. Press CTRL along with the arrow keys to move the model. Pressing the ALT key along with the direction keys allows the model to be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise. 3 You can pin the dialog box for view orientation so that it can be used throughout the entire operation time. 4 Use z to zoom in on the model, or use SHIFT + z to zoom out. 5 You can use the window dividers at the bottom and sides of the work window to view two or more different views of the same model simultaneously. 6 Click the “Show/Hide Geometric Relationships” icon in the toolbar to identify any overdefined or dangling geometric relationships in the sketch. When the dialog box appears, click Criteria and select Overdefined or None from its dropdown list. 7 You can drag the icons of parts or assemblies in the FeatureManager design tree and place them on the engineering drawing to automatically generate standard three-view drawings. 8 You can draw a center line, select the mirror icon, and then create a \"mirror line\". 9 You can hold down the CTRL key and drag a reference plane to quickly create an equidistant reference plane, then double-click on that plane to specify the distance dimension precisely. 10 You can change the order of features by dragging and dropping them in the FeatureManager design tree. 11 When opening a drawing or assembly, you can use the reference file button in the open file dialog to change the referenced parts. 12 If the display in hidden line view mode is not precise enough, you can use Tools/Options/File Properties/Image Quality/Hatch Quality to adjust the display quality. 13 You can use the back button on the FeatureManager design tree to go back to the features within its part. 14 Using the selection filter toolbar, you can easily select entities. 15 Hold down the CTRL key and drag feature icons from the FeatureManager tree to the edges or surfaces you wish to modify; this allows you to create rounds, chamfers, and copies of holes on various edges and surfaces. 16 Selecting the “Select Other” option from the right-click dropdown menu allows for cyclic selection through entities at the location of the cursor. 17 Click Tools/Options/File Properties/Color on the menu, then select a feature type from the list, and click Edit to choose a color; you can assign a color to the selected feature type. 18 When drawing sketches, you can use the Esc key frequently to return the cursor to selection mode. 19 When the dialog box opens, you can use the icon tools on the view toolbar to adjust the viewing angle of the model. 20 You can move the cursor to the profile line in the project profile view, right-click and select the Properties option to change the profile line. 21 You can create arrays of features on a part, as well as arrays of those arrays. In an assembly, you can generate arrays of components as well as arrays of assembly layer features. 22 To determine the function of a toolbar button, you can move the cursor over the icon button on the toolbar and hold it there for a moment; a tooltip will then display the function of the button, and a description of its function will appear in the status bar. 23 A fully defined sketch will display all solids in black, while under-defined solids will be displayed in blue. The first component placed in the 24-slot ligand will be set as fixed by default. To move it, right-click on the component and select the Float option. 25 When using part family tables, it is a good approach to copy and paste the dimension names into the table, so as to ensure that the dimension names match. 26 A secant line can include an arc. When you are able to generate this sectional view, expand it by rotating the segments of the appropriate view to the projection plane. 27 In the assembly, you can hold down the CTRL key and drag a component from the FeatureManager design tree into the drawing window; this will create another instance of that component within the assembly. 28 Through our website: www.solidworks.com, you can access the latest SolidWorks news. 29 You can display view arrows and names on the engineering view. Right-click on the engineering view, select Properties, click \"Show View Arrows\", and specify a name as desired [one or two characters]. 30 No corresponding feature replication is required; you can also create copies of components within the assembly. 31 Drag and drop files from the File Explorer into SolidWorks windows, so that you can open multiple SolidWorks files at the same time. 32 In the FeatureManager design tree, select Settings; you can drag specific settings from a particular part and drop them into an assembly. 33 Select Tools/Custom/Commands from the menu; you can add or remove icon buttons from the toolbar. 34 You can select Tool/Interference Check from the menu to ensure that there is no intersection* interference between the components in the assembly. 35 In the menu, under Tools/Options/File Properties/Color, select Coloring and then click the Advanced button to apply a transparency effect to the parts. 36 To change the feature name, hold down the mouse button twice on the feature name and type in a new name. 37 You can use the views on the menu to toggle the display on or off of the reference planes, reference axes, and origin. 38 Select Tools/Customize > Keyboard Settings on the menu, and you can create shortcuts for the most frequently used commands. 39 Select Tool/Sketch Drawing Tool/Modify options from the menu, or choose the corresponding toolbar button on the Sketch Relations toolbar; you can move, rotate, or scale the entire sketch. 40 Using the View/Display/Section View option on the menu, you can create a section view of the model. 41 You can create a custom drawing template and save it using the File/Save Template command on the menu. 42 Use the tools on the menu/Sketch Drawing Tool/Dimensions that change as you drag; you can modify the size values of a sketch entity while dragging it. You can set the tool/options/system options/sketch options and make them the default behavior. 43 You can hold down the Shift key to select multiple features in the FeatureManager design tree. 44 You can specify different line styles for many engineering drawing items, including the view frames of detailed views. Please select Tool/Option/File Properties/Linetype from the menu to specify your choice. 45 If the sketch is under-defined, a negative sign will appear in front of the sketch name in the FeatureManager design tree; if the sketch is over-defined, a positive sign will appear in front of the sketch name. 46 If you drag a part and place it in the FeatureManager design tree of an assembly, it will be positioned with its origin coinciding with that of the assembly, and its default reference planes will be aligned with the assembly’s default reference planes. 47 When lofting between similar sketch profiles, copying sketches is usually a very useful method. Select a sketch from the FeatureManager design tree or an entity within a sketch, use CTRL-C to copy it, then select a datum plane or surface and use CTRL-V to paste the sketch. 48 You can press the “F” key at any time to resize the image to the most appropriate size. 49 In the FeatureManager design tree, select the control rod to retract, and using the up and down arrow keys on the keyboard allows you to view the sequence in which the parts are created step by step. Before activating this feature, please first select Tools/Options/System Options from the menu to enable the arrow key navigation option within the FeatureManager design tree. 50 You can adjust the system’s view orientation for a single part or assembly. Please open the view orientation dialog box, select any of the view names and choose Update. The current view orientation will then be replaced by the selected system default view, and all other system views will also change and be updated accordingly. 51 You can measure the shortest distance between edges, faces, sketch entities, and components. Please use the Tools/Measurement option on the menu and select a pair of entities to measure. 52 You can view preview images of SolidWorks models in Windows Explorer. Please right-click on that file and select Quick View, then you can choose File/Open File to edit the file of that model. 53 You can change the rotation increment when using the direction keys to rotate the model; select Tools/Options/System Options/View Rotation from the menu, and then change the value in the direction key input field. 54 You can use CTRL-R to redraw or refresh your screen. 55 When entering a dimension value, you can use mathematical expressions or trigonometric functions. For example, * 56. You can hold down the CTRL key to select multiple annotations and modify them at the same time. 57 You can double-click the cut line in the drawing to reverse the direction of the sectional view. 58 You can drag the break line in the engineering drawing to change the break length of the broken view. 59 When working with reference entities or isometric entities using each edge line on a face, loop, or sketch contour, it is easier to select the entire face, loop, or sketch rather than selecting each entity individually. The 60 drawing format can be handled just like files using object linking and embedding, which allows you to embed an object such as a .BMP image into the format. 61 Holding the Shift key while selecting dimension text in a drawing allows you to move dimensions from one view to another. $In engineering drawings, holding down the Ctrl key while selecting dimension text allows you to copy dimensions from one view to another. 62 In the size selection options, for arcs, the conditions of maximum and minimum values can be chosen; the dimension marked at the center of an arc or circle can be changed to one marked on its tangent line. 63 If a feature or reconstruction fails, you can right-click on the corresponding icon in the FeatureManager design tree and select the “What’s wrong” command to check. 64 You can create parts in the associated assembly (using a bottom-up design approach). 65 You can hide or collapse components or features within an assembly. Hiding a component or feature makes it invisible, while compressing it functionally removes it from the active assembly without deleting it. 66 You can use the commonly used Windows-defined shortcut keys to quickly execute Ctrl-N (New). 67 You can embed an active SolidWorks object into MS Word or other OLE 2.0 applications. 68 You can use Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V to copy the values from the measurement dialog box and paste them into other SolidWorks dialog boxes. 69 You can select the “Read-only” option when the part is open to prevent any writing operations on it. 70 You can create equations between features and components to ensure the design intent. 71 If your default unit is inches, you can still enter values in metric units in the numeric field; for example, 25mm, and SolidWorks will automatically convert that value to the default unit. 72 Using the menu options File/Find related part files/Copy, you can copy all the referenced files in an assembly to a new directory. 73 You can directly import Parasolid files and assemblies into SolidWorks. 74 You can attach the geometric tolerance to a dimension value by dragging the geometric tolerance onto the dimension. 75 You can switch to different split windows without using a mouse. Use the Tab or F6 key to activate the next window, and Shift-Tab or Shift-F6 to activate the previous window. 76 You can create a sketching point at the virtual intersection point of two entities. Please hold down the Ctrl key, select the solid, and then choose the toolbar icon for sketching points. To change the display of the plotted points, click Virtual Intersection on the Tools/Options/Detail Tag menu. 77 You can examine the sketch to determine whether it can be used to generate a specified feature type. When editing a sketch, please select Tools/Sketching Tools from the menu to check the sketch for feature usage. 78 When using the round corner tool, you can add a round corner to a sketch by selecting the vertex positions at the intersection points of the solids. 79 You can use the round corner tool to create round corners on non-intersecting sketch entities; when these round corners are added, the entities are automatically trimmed or extended. 80 You can replace an entity that has already been used in the sketch geometric relationships, using the entities table in the Display/Remove Geometric Relationships dialog box