Lightweight drawings are analogous to lightweight assemblies. By default, most assembly drawings are opened as lightweight, so only a subset of model data is loaded in memory. The remaining model data is loaded as needed.
Performance of drawings of large assemblies is improved significantly with lightweight drawings. Lightweight drawings are efficient because the full model data is loaded only as it is needed.
Detached drawings cannot be lightweight drawings.
With lightweight drawings, you can:
- Create all types of drawing views
- Attach annotations to models in views
- Dimension models in views
- Specify edge properties
- Select edges and vertices
- Set drawings of subassemblies to lightweight or resolved
If you print a lightweight drawing when it is out of synchronization with its model, the drawing prints with a watermark:
SolidWorks Lightweight drawing - Out-of-Date Print