Property Tab Builder is a stand-alone utility you use to create a customized interface for entering properties into SOLIDWORKS files.
The tabs you create with Property Tab Builder appear in the SOLIDWORKS interface on the Custom Properties tab in the Task Pane. You create different tab templates for parts, assemblies, and drawings.
You can also enter properties on the Custom and Configuration Specific tabs in the Summary Information dialog box in SOLIDWORKS.
In companies with multiple SOLIDWORKS users, typically one person, such as the lead user or administrator, creates the customized tabs for everyone to use. In this help file, the administrator is referred to as “you”; people who use the tabs in the SOLIDWORKS interface to enter properties are referred to as “users”.
The installed version of the SOLIDWORKS software displays in the Property Tab Builder
header. This label is useful when you have users running different versions of the software,
and you want to make sure that you are creating a template that matches what a given
set of users is running on their machines.
Opening Property Tab Builder
Do one of the following:
-
In SOLIDWORKS, on the SOLIDWORKS Resources tab of the Task Pane, click Property Tab Builder .
-
From the Windows Start menu, click .
- In SOLIDWORKS, on the Custom Properties tab in the Task Pane, click Create now. (Available if a tab template does not yet exist for the active document type.)
Property Tab Builder opens. The center pane contains the template you are creating for the tab. You drag elements such as text boxes and radio buttons from the palette on the left, and set attributes for those elements in the pane on the right.
Storing Templates
Save the tab templates in the location where you store your properties.txt file. You can create multiple templates for each document type. The file extension indicates the template type:
- .prtprp for parts
- .asmprp for assemblies
- .drwprp for drawings
- .wldprp for weldments
To find the location of your existing properties.txt file, in SOLIDWORKS, click . Select Custom Properties Files in Show folders for. The path appears under Folders.
To share the customized tab, store it on a network drive that is accessible by all SOLIDWORKS users on the design team. Then have the users set their file location for Custom Properties Files to that location.