Print

Prints the active document.

Grid lines in drawings are printed no closer than 5 mm to each other, as measured on the paper.

To print the active document:

1. Click Print (Standard toolbar) or File, Print.

2. In the dialog box, select from the options described below, then click OK.

Document Printer

• Name. Specifies the printer.

  The system provides read-only information about the printer’s status, type, and location.

If the printer type uses a vector-only print driver such as a pen plotter, the output does not contain raster output such as shaded views, draft quality views, SpeedPak views, or bitmaps.

• Properties. Sets options that are specific to the selected printer.

• Page Setup. Specifies page setup options and advanced printer options such as scale, orientation, resolution, and so on.

System options

• Margins. Specifies values for the top, bottom, left, and right margins for the document.

Document options

• Header/Footer. Specifies headers and footers for the active document.

• Line Thickness. Specifies  the line thickness that work best with your printer or plotter.

Print range

• All sheets (Drawings only). Prints all sheets of a drawing document.

• Current sheet (Drawings only). Prints the current drawing sheet.

• Current screen image. Prints the image on the screen.

• Selection (Drawings only). Prints a selected area of a drawing sheet at a scale you specify.

• Sheets (Drawings only). Prints drawing sheets you enter. Separate sheets numbers by commas, or use a dash - to indicate a range.

Options

Select from the following options. The last set state is remembered on subsequent prints during the current SolidWorks session only.

• Number of copies. Sets the number of copies to print.

• Print background. Prints the window background, in addition to the model or drawing.

• Print to file. Prints to a file instead of the printer. Type a name for the file in the Print to File dialog box.

• Convert draft quality drawing views to high quality (Drawings only). Converts the current draft quality view into high quality for printing purposes only.

• Print crosshatch on out-of-date views. Specifies what happens when you Print (or Print Preview) a drawing that contains out-of-date views, with Allow auto-update when opening drawings cleared in System Options - Drawings. (If Allow auto-update when opening drawings is selected, the views update automatically, and the crosshatch is removed whenever you print the drawing.)

3D Printing

Prints to a 3D rapid prototype printer (Drawings only). A 3D printer and printer driver must be available.