10 New Secret Functions Added to Solidworks in the last 10 Years

Ok, so they’re not really secret, but I didn’t know about them, so they were secret to me.

Plus, in case you haven’t noticed I haven’t really been using Solidworks for the last few years. There have been other things to do. The using I’m doing now is more from a writing point of view than anything else. I guess most writers don’t really use the software, but maybe I’m not a real writer.

Anyway, here are a bunch of new functions I’ve found while going through the software in detail recently.

Selection Sets

To me, this is an important one. I’m pretty sure I submitted an enhancement request for this a long time ago. I’m glad to see it in the software now.

Here’s how it works. You can select a set of items in the graphics window, the FeatureManager or a PropertyManager selection window and then from the RMB menu, select Selection Tools or Save Selection, depending on context.

A new folder is added to the top of the FeatureManager called Selection Sets, and sub-folders are created underneath with the new selection set you added. You can change the names of these selection set folders. The selection set folders can be expanded to show the entities that you selected.

In the case shown, I created two selection sets, and renamed one Vertical Edges and the other Horizontal Edges. The selections were made from the graphics window.

I suggested this new function because many times you would go to make a complex feature like a fillet with a lot of edges or a Boundary feature with a large number of selections, and the feature would fail in creation. They you’d have to go back and edit something, start the feature again, and reselect everything again. Huge waste of time. This allows you to reuse selections.

The Help on this function is pretty useful about creating and editing Selection Sets, but it doesn’t tell you how to use them or their intended purpose.

To use a selection set, you can pre-select the selection set from the FeatureManager and then start a feature that requires a selection, like the Fillet feature. Or you can start the feature, make sure the selection box is highlighted, and then from the fly-out FeatureManager, select the appropriate selection set.

For something like the Boundary surface, you might have to create multiple selection sets, one for Direction 1 edges and another for Direction 2.

Interestingly, in the example using fillets above, the edges in the selection set go dangling after the fillet is added, and return if the feature is rolled back. I’m not sure I find this part of it very useful, but I guess it’s consistent with the way the software works.

Selection Sets can be used in parts or assemblies.

To me this is really a nice implementation, just about 15 years late. I’m not sure when this was added, but it’s a nice function.

Open Part in Position

Open Part in Position is used to open parts in an assembly. It differs from the traditional Open Part in that Open Part will use the orientation of the part that it was saved with in its own window, but Open Part in Position opens it in the orientation in which it is found in the assembly.

Is it a useful option? Hmmm. Maybe. I can see it being useful if you’re not familiar with the parts or the assembly or maybe it’s a very complex part.

Anyway, it only costs us a position on the context menu, so it’s not that bad.

Make Part Flexible

My memory on certain things fades. I do remember flexible subassemblies, but not flexible parts. Flexible parts have to have in-context references that will drive the flexing of the part when the parent parts are moved in the assembly. This has nothing to do with the Flex feature. There is a limited list of the types of in-context relation types that will allow a part to qualify for Flexible status.

The image on the right was taken from the Help. It is given as an example of the type of assembly that would include a flexible part. In this case, the spring is the flexible one.

Temporary Fix/Group

While moving parts in an assembly that are not grouped as a subassembly, you can temporarily fix or group those parts. Access the command via the RMB menu in an assembly. Parts can be pre- or post- selected. Make sure the box you want to use (for fix or group) is active when you select.

The Remember Selections option will remember the selections next time you initiate this command. Show Labels will label the parts in the graphics window with tags that show if the part is fixed (blue) or grouped (pink).

It’s an interesting option, but I don’t think I’d ever use it because I really don’t use the Move Part tool much. Of course it’s entirely possible that I totally misunderstand the purpose of this function.

Make Independent

This is a tool whose time had come. You can take one particular instance of a part and save it with a different part name. They must have someone different at Solidworks who doesn’t understand the corporate lingo around file management. The warning box asks if you want to give it a new component name. That’s ambiguous. File name is more specific, and I think more directly what they are talking about. And they aren’t really talking about components, they are talking about an instance of a component, which could mean one screw out of 20 or one subassembly out of several. They spent all these years getting the lingo right and some newbie comes along and makes a mess of things.

Of course the actual work gets done in a Save As dialog box.

Reference Geometry Display

This is one of the more useful tools in this list. It is only available in the assembly, and will only show or hide the primary planes. You can access it from the RMB menu of any assembly component or from the Hide All Types drop down list in the Heads Up View toolbar. It can only be accessed when the View Planes toggle is turned on.

This can get kind of confusing because planes and reference geometry have overall toggles, individual toggles, and then overrides. I think you have to use these controls to get a real feel for how they work, but I’ve found this one useful for accessing standard (primary) planes.

Reload

It appears that in SW Connected, the Reload function in parts is gone. You can only reload from the database, not from your local hard drive. Reload used to be used to restore a part to the last saved version. It is still available for assembly components, just not in the part window. This is a good example of the Connected junk interfering with the operation of the software.

Flip Normal

Flip Normal is kind of an obscure option for flipping the normal of a reference plane. This essentially changes which direction a plane considers “up” or which direction is the default extrude direction. It can be important in some situations because Solidworks has this propensity to occasionally flip normals on its own. There was a way to repair this, but it had some additional problems. If you wind up needing this, it’s because something is seriously wrong.

Stud Wizard

This is new to me. I’m sure some people find it useful, but I don’t do enough of this kind of sheet metal to warrant it.

Tools

There appear to be a whole new set of things under the Tools menu. Most of these are things I don’t find any use for at the moment.

Summary

In this list, how many items did you find that you think were useful? Do any of them significantly impact how you work? Did I miss anything important?