Alternate Reality
There’s a whole slew of stuff you can do with the Alt key in SolidWorks. I threatened one time to do a SolidWorks World presentation just on that one button. Someone somewhere didn’t think it was such a great idea, or maybe they thought I was showing off. Anyway, I don’t think it will ever really happen, so I’m just gonna do it here. Next best thing, I suppose.
So here’s my list. Please use the comments to add to it. I’m sure there’s tons of stuff I’ve missed.
- Alt-key accelerators (Alt-F for File – you know, those underlined accelerator keys)
- Alt-MMB or Alt-arrows – to roll view around screen center
- Ctrl-Alt-MMB – to roll an active camera
- in combo with the scroll wheel on modify dialog (divides increment by 10)
- alt drag a part in and assembly by an edge to get a smart mate
- alt-tab (switching windows within a windows application)
- modifier for custom hotkeys
- Alt-Drag – to move drawing views
- Alt-Drag to move a table in a drawing
- Alt-Drag on spline handles to drag handles symmetrically
- Alt-Drag a grouped annotation and the annotation moves independently from the group
- Alt-Drag the Triad ball when using Move With Triad to move a part. This moves the Triad freely. Also works for Triad in Explode.
- Alt-Drag an appearance from the Task Pane to the graphics window immediately edits the appearance or scene
- Alt-Drag when reordering parts in an assembly feature manager to prevent the part from getting put into a subassembly (goes after the subassy instead)
- Alt when dragging an Instant3D handle enables you to snap to a face
Which other ones do you use?