ADMINISTRATION

INTRODUCTION

Ultimately once you get into using SolidWorks professionally, it will be critical that you become quick and effective

The bulk of your energy should be spent on the creative process, not getting the tool to cooperate

FOLDERS

Organization is critical and a requirement in the professional setting

Every company that uses SolidWorks will have their own unique version of maintaining files

DIR

Dir is a command prompt function that will list the files contained within a folder.

Use the code below and paste it into your notepad document
Save that as DIR.BAT (NOT .TXT)
Place that BAT in the folder you'd like the readout
Double click it to run the BAT
View the newly generated text file

CD /D %~dp0

dir /s /b> dir.txt

EXERCISE

Create the folders shown below (or equivalent), then use the DIR command above to create a list of the folders you've created

2369
- ADMIN
- TEMPLATES
- DOWNLOADS
- REF_MATERIAL
- HOMEWORK (50 total subfolders)
  - A01
  - A02
  - ...
  - A50
- PROJECTS
  - P01
  - P02
  - ...
  - P06
- SCRAP
- EXAMS
  - MIDTERM
  - FINAL

Keyboard shortcuts

No one can be considered properly proficient in SolidWorks without utilizing keyboard shortcuts

EXERCISE

Setup the keyboard shortcuts for the following commands:

Line
Circle
Rectangle
Extrude
Cut
Smart Dimension
Measure

command manager tabs

Probably the most common method of accessing tools, it is suggested to create a custom Tab with your favorite commands

EXERCISE

Create your own custom command manager tab

Try to add commands in a flow that works for you. Typically I use the flow, Sketch→Standard Features→Assemblies→Special Features

mouse gestures

Hold down the RMB and drag a direction to initiate a command

EXERCISE

Customize Mouse Gestures

Set mouse gestures to 4 directions (up/down, left/right)

Add the following to the gesture wheel:

Smart Dimension/Measure (depending on environment)
Collapse Tree
NormalTo
Rebuild

custom properties

If information changes per model but is critical to be present on your 2D drawing, you'll want to create a Custom Property Field so you can simply set the values

EXERCISE

Create a Custom Property Tab

Part Number
Part Title/Description
Drawn By (username)
Drawn Date
Make or Buy (radio button)

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