Opening Drawings from Part or Assembly Documents

You can use the Open Drawing tool to open existing drawings associated with the active part or assembly document.

  • The tool is available on the File menu and on context toolbars.
  • You can add the tool to mouse gestures and assign a keyboard shortcut.
  • You can add the tool to the CommandManager or toolbars. Click Tools > Customize > Commands > Standard and drag Open Drawing to a toolbar or CommandManager location.

To open an existing drawing of the active part or assembly document:

  • Do one of the following:
    • Click File > Open Drawing.
    • Right-click the top item in the FeatureManager design tree or a blank region in the graphics area and select Open Drawing .

To open an existing drawing of an assembly component:

  • In the assembly document, right-click the component in the FeatureManager design tree or in the graphics area and select Open Drawing .

SOLIDWORKS looks for a drawing with the same name as the model, in the same folder as the model. If the drawing exists, it opens automatically. If such a drawing is not found, a browse window appears so you can locate a drawing manually.

When there is more than one open and unsaved drawing for a model, a message prompts you to select the drawing to open from the Browse Open Documents dialog box.