Hide Table of Contents

Time Saving Keyboard Shortcuts

Assemblies

Keyboard shortcut Description
Alt + drag
  • Mates. Creates a SmartMate when you Alt + drag a component.
  • Motion studies. Moves multiple keys in the MotionManager.
  • Triad. When using the triad (for example, in Move with Triad mode and in Exploded Views), aligns the triad with an edge or face when you Alt + drag the center ball or handle on the triad and drop it on an edge or face.
  • Reordering components. When moving a component in the FeatureManager design tree, ensures that the component remains at the same level in the tree and prevents it from being moved into a subassembly.
Alt + Ctrl drag Copies the component and creates a SmartMate.
Ctrl + drag
  • Copies a component when you Ctrl + drag it.
  • Selection. In an assembly with preselected components, inverts the selection when you Ctrl + drag a selection box.
  • Toolbox. Creates a part instead of a configuration when you drag a Toolbox component into an assembly.
  • Motion studies. Copies multiple keys in the MotionManager.
Tab
  • Hide/Show. Hides all components below the pointer.
  • While Inserting a Component. Rotates the component 90º.
Shift + Tab
  • Hide/Show. Shows all components below the pointer.
  • While Inserting a Component. Rotates the component -90º.
Ctrl + Shift + Tab Temporarily displays all hidden components as transparent and lets you select which ones to show.

To show one or more components, move the pointer to the graphics area, and press and hold Ctrl + Shift + Tab. All hidden components are temporarily displayed as transparent. Click a hidden component to change it to shown.
Right-click and drag
  • In a blank area of the graphics area. Invokes mouse gestures.
  • On a component. Rotates a component relative to the assembly origin.
Alt + right-click + drag On a Component. Invokes mouse gestures instead of the Rotate Component tool.
Shift + arrow keys Reorients a Routing component when you insert a Routing component into an existing Routing assembly.

Copy/paste

Keyboard shortcut Description
Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V Use these keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste, similar to Windows functionality.
  • Sketches. Copies and pastes sketch entities.
  • Parts. Copies and pastes sketches.
  • Assemblies. Copies and pastes parts and subassemblies. If you select a feature in the FeatureManager design tree, you can copy and paste the feature as an assembly-level feature.
  • Drawings. Copies and pastes drawing views.
Ctrl + drag
  • Sketches. Copies sketch entities.
  • Parts. Copies features.
  • Assemblies. Copies parts and subassemblies.
  • Drawings. Copies drawing views.

Dimensions and annotations

Keyboard shortcut Description
Alt + click Turns off automatic alignment when you place dimensions and annotations.
Alt + drag Moves an annotation independently from the group in which it is contained.
Alt + specified values Inserts standard Windows symbols:
  • Alt + 0176. Inserts a degree º symbol.
  • Alt + 0216. Inserts a diameter Ø symbol.
  • Alt + 0181. Inserts a µ symbol.
Ctrl + drag Creates additional leaders on a note when you Ctrl + drag a leader's arrowhead.
Shift + click Snaps a dimension to the max or min location when dimensioning arcs and circles with the Smart Dimension tool.
` key Lets you change the annotation view plane for a dimension or annotation.

Display

Keyboard shortcut Description
Alt + arrow keys Rotates the model parallel to the viewing plane.
Alt + drag the middle mouse button Rotates the model parallel to the viewing plane.
Shift + arrow keys Rotates the model 90º.
Shift + Z Zooms the model in.
Z Zooms the model out.
Shift + drag the middle mouse button Zooms the model in and out about the screen center.
F Zooms to fit.
Alt + click Shows a hidden body or component when you hover over the body or component.
Alt + middle mouse wheel Shows a section view when using the magnifying glass.
Ctrl + spacebar Opens the View Selector.
Spacebar Opens the View Selector and Orientation dialog box.
Alt + drag Opens the Appearances PropertyManager when you drag an appearance from the Task Pane onto a model.

Drawings

Keyboard shortcut Description
Alt + drag Lets you select anywhere in a table to move the table.
Ctrl + drag
  • Drawing views. Breaks the drawing view alignment when you insert a drawing view.
  • Annotations. Copies annotations without snapping to the grid or to other annotations.
  • Tables. Lets you select anywhere in a table to move the table.
Shift + click Lets you select one edge in a drawing view if multiple edges are collinear. In general, when you select an edge in a drawing, the entire line is highlighted if all of the line segments are collinear.
Shift + drag Moves a dimension to another drawing view when you drag the dimension and drop it on another view.

Move

Keyboard shortcut Description
Ctrl + arrow keys Pans a model.
Ctrl + drag the middle mouse button Pans a model.
Shift + drag
  • Sketches. Moves a set of sketch entities.
  • Parts. Moves a feature.
  • Drawings. Moves the selected drawing view and any related views together as if they are one entity. You can also move a dimension to a different view.

Selection

Keyboard shortcut Description
Alt + click Lets you select the back faces in the View Selector cube.
Ctrl + click Lets you select multiple entities.
Shift Lets you select a transparent face on a part.
Shift + click Selects everything within the two selected items in the FeatureManager design tree.

Sheet metal

Keyboard shortcut Description
Tab Flips the direction of the forming tool when dragging the forming tool onto a face.

Sketching

Keyboard shortcut Description
Alt + drag Symmetrically adjusts both handles of a control point in a spline.
Ctrl + drag Suppresses inference lines when dragging an endpoint.
Pressing Ctrl while sketching Turns off automatic sketch relations.
Shift + click Turns on snapping.
Shift + drag When sketching a line, the line snaps to specific lengths.
Tab Changes the XYZ plane when sketching in a 3D sketch.

User interface

Keyboard shortcut Description
Ctrl + B Rebuilds the model.
Ctrl + R Redraws the screen.
Ctrl + Tab Moves among open documents.
Enter Repeats the last command.
S Opens the shortcut bar.


Provide feedback on this topic

SOLIDWORKS welcomes your feedback concerning the presentation, accuracy, and thoroughness of the documentation. Use the form below to send your comments and suggestions about this topic directly to our documentation team. The documentation team cannot answer technical support questions. Click here for information about technical support.

* Required

 
*Email:  
Subject:   Feedback on Help Topics
Page:   Time Saving Keyboard Shortcuts
*Comment:  
*   I acknowledge I have read and I hereby accept the privacy policy under which my Personal Data will be used by Dassault Systèmes

Print Topic

Select the scope of content to print:

x

We have detected you are using a browser version older than Internet Explorer 7. For optimized display, we suggest upgrading your browser to Internet Explorer 7 or newer.

 Never show this message again
x

Web Help Content Version: SOLIDWORKS 2016 SP05

To disable Web help from within SOLIDWORKS and use local help instead, click Help > Use SOLIDWORKS Web Help.

To report problems encountered with the Web help interface and search, contact your local support representative. To provide feedback on individual help topics, use the “Feedback on this topic” link on the individual topic page.

0.20.26