GabiJack.com

Archive for January 10th, 2009

I’m working on a new video, but before that I wanted to add a small post as a way of an answer to a question I’ve been asked quite a few times already: where do all those buttons and toolbars that you’re using come from?  I know this is something that the more experienced user already knows, but it is a very real and very justified question when you’re just getting started. So here it goes.

Every time you open a document in SolidWorks, you are going to see a set of toolbars that appear there by default and that contain buttons for the most common features (commands) that you’ll ever need. You’ll notice that some of these toolbars and commands are available only for one kind of document and not for others.   For the most part, you’ll get by with these few commands, but every now and then you’ll need to reach out for something special or may need to use a particular set of tools. Here’s how to find them.

First, here’s how to add more toolbars. In the most general of all cases, simply go to Tools, Customize and click on Toolbars on the Customize dialog box that will open. Notice that, because the toolbars and commands are related to the kind of document you are working with, you will only be able to do this when a document (part, assembly or drawing) is open. Choose the toolbar you want to add from the list and it should show up like a small box, on the side of or even inside the graphics area. You can easily drag this box to wherever you want it to be. In SW 2007 (and maybe previous versions, I’m not sure) you can drag it out of the screen area and into the command manager with the rest of the toolbars.

In SW2008 and 2009, the command manager appears by default above the graphics area and the commands are contained inside tabs that replace the toolbars from previous versions. In SW2008, this command manager is docked above the graphics area. In SW2009, you can undock the command manager and position it somewhere else in the graphics area, but you’ll still find tabs, just the same.  You can add toolbars in the same way as described above for 2007, or you can add the commands contained in the toolbar in a tab in the command manager.  Just as before, go to Tools, Customize. The same dialog box will open, but this time you will also notice  a series of tabs in the command manager that were hidden before and that perhaps you didn’t even know you had. In the image below, those tabs are Surfaces, Sheet Metal, Weldments and Mold Tools, and are highlighted in a lighter shade of gray.  If you right click on these tabs and select Show Tab, you’ll be able to see them and select tools from them. 

Notice also the extra tab on the right side.  Click on it and a list of available toolbars will show up, choose from this list to include the toolbar of your choice in a new tab. In this image, I chose the Splines Tools and added the commands in that toolbar as a tab in the command manager.  

You can also click on Empty Tab to create a new custom tab and fill it up with any commands you may want to put in it, like all those commands that you use more frequently in your projects, etc.  By default, this empty tab will be named New Tab, but you can rename it by right clicking on it (while the Customize dialog box is still open) and choosing rename tab. Note: the custom tab won’t become visible until you actually add some buttons (commands) to it.

And how do you add the commands to the toolbar? Well, if the  Customize dialog box isn’t still open, go back to Tools, Customize  and choose the Commands  tab this time, browse the commands available  in the different categories until you find the one(s) that you need, then, click and drag the command to the toolbar or tab where you want  to add it. If you are creating a custom tab, for instance, you can have commands from many different categories all together in one tab. In this example, I created the custom tab My commands and added a couple of buttons to it. Notice that although they appear active while we’re dragging buttons to the tab, the Model View and Create Layout commands are really going to be grayed out because they’re not available for this kind of document.

So now you know where the buttons are coming from.