Print

Prints the active document.

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

To print the active document:

Click Print (Standard toolbar) or File > Print, select from the options described below, and 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 shared 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, and resolution.
Preview Previews the image of the active document before you send it to the printer.

Document options

Header/Footer Use the following options in the Header/Footer dialog box to specify headers and footers for the active document:

Header, Footer

Select a predefined header or footer.

Custom Header, Custom Footer

Use the following options in the Custom Header or Custom Footer dialog box to create custom headers or footers:

Left section, Center section, Right section

Click in a section to define either the left-aligned, center-aligned, or right-aligned part of the header or footer, and then use the following options to insert text or parametric items:

Page Numbers Time
Number of Pages Filename
Date    

Font

Choose a font style and size, then click OK. The selected font applies to the complete header or complete footer.

View read-only previews in Header preview and Footer preview.
Line Thickness Specifies the line thickness that works best with your printer or plotter. See Document Properties - Line Thickness.

System options

You can set margins for the printed document. These settings are saved for all SOLIDWORKS documents.

Margins Use the following options in the Margins dialog box to specify custom margin values or to use the printer's default margin values:

Top, Bottom, Left, Right

Specifies values for the top, bottom, left, and right margins for the document. Clear Use printer's margins to use these options.

Use printer's margins

When Use printer's margins is selected, the document prints with the printer's default margin values. If you have modified the values in the Margins dialog box, select this check box to view the printer's default margin values.

Print Range

Entire model Prints the model.

Not available for Drawings.
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 cross hatch 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.)
Print white lines, text in black (Drawings only) Prints white lines and black text.
Print grid (Drawings only) Prints gridlines.
Gridlines in drawings are printed no closer than 5 mm to each other, as measured on the paper.
Print zone lines (Drawings only) Prints zone lines.

3D Printing

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