As with video games, there are hidden shortcuts in the SolidWorks software. Today, we reveal some of these different combinations to help with your part, assembly, and drawing creation.
SKETCHES:
- Dimension (min/max) condition of an arc – Hold down SHIFT
- Snap to the grid – Hold down SHIFT while drawing entities
- Turn off automatic relations – Hold down CTRL while drawing entities
- Change spline controls symmetrically – Hold down the ALT key while dragging spline controls
- Change XYZ direction in a 3D sketch – Click the TAB key while drawing entities in a 3D sketch
- Zoom to the center of the screen – Hold down the SHIFT key and the middle mouse button while moving the mouse up and down
- Copy a series of entities – Hold down CTRL and drag the selected entities to another location
- Move a series of entities – Hold down SHIFT and drag the selected entities to another location
PART DOCUMENTS:
- Copy Features – Hold down CTRL and drag a feature to another location
- Move Features – Hold down SHIFT and drag a feature to another location
- Switch to another open document – Hold down CTRL, then click TAB between each one
- Flip the direction of a formed feature (Sheet metal) – Click the TAB key while dragging the feature to a face
- Select transparent items – Hold down SHIFT when attempting to choose a transparent face on a part, or vise-versa when “Select through transparent items” is turned off
- Change advanced settings of an appearance or scene – Hold down the ALT key when dragging an appearance or scene from the appearance tab in the task pane
- Create a plane – Hold down CTRL and drag an existing plane
- Rotate in 90-degree increments – Hold down SHIFT plus your arrow keys
- Rotate clockwise/counterclockwise – Hold down ALT plus your arrow keys
- Pan – Hold down CTRL plus your arrow keys
- Reference Triad – Use the CTRL, SHIFT, and ALT keys while clicking on the reference triad to change the orientation of your component
ASSEMBLY DOCUMENTS
- Smart Mate – Hold down ALT, click and drag an edge or face to another component to mate
- Smart Mate + Copy – Hold down CTRL and ALT, click and drag an edge or face to another component
- Copy a part – Hold down CTRL and drag a component to another location
- Select multiple components – Hold down the SHIFT key when window selecting components
- Invert selection – Hold down the CTRL key when window selecting components. Components that are already selected will become deselected
- Select a transparent face – Hold down SHIFT when attempting to pick a transparent face, or vise-versa when “Select through transparent items” is turned off
- Change direction of an explode step – Hold down the ALT key while dragging the yellow sphere to a face or an edge
- Change the direction of the move function when using Move with Triad – Hold down the ALT key and move the triad to an edge to change the direction
- Change from reorganizing to re-order while moving parts in the feature manager – Hold down ALT while re-ordering parts in the feature manager so you don’t accidentally add a part to a sub-assembly
- Copy a part from one assembly to another – Hold down CTRL while dragging the part
- Change the direction of Routing components – Hold down SHIFT plus your arrow keys to change the orientation of a routing component upon insertion
- Mouse gestures – Right click drag over a component rotates it, so hold down ALT if you meant to use mouse gestures
- Create parts instead of configurations when using Toolbox – Hold down the CTL key when dragging a part into your assembly
- Camera Views – Use CTRL, SHIFT, and ALT keys plus your middle mouse button to manipulate camera views
- Walkthrough – Use CTRL, SHIFT, and ALT keys to change the orientation of your camera while using the walkthrough function
- Motion Manager – Use the CTRL and ALT keys to copy and move multiple keys in the motion manager
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