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Collaboration Pane

The Collaboration pane lists collaboration actors sorted by type.

This page discusses:

Toolbar Commands

Toolbar commands let you manage assemby and selection groups.

Tip: You can manage assembly/selection groups by dragging them from the pane.

Icon Command Name Description
Assembly Selection Mode Selects parent assembly nodes instead of leaf (geometry) nodes when you select actors in the assembly tree or viewport. In default mode (when assembly selection mode is not selected, also known as part selection mode), all geometry under your selection is selected.When in assembly selection mode, the viewport has a blue border. You can also select assemblies while in default mode as follows:
  • Press Alt while making a selection in the viewport.
  • After selecting an actor in the viewport, press the left arrow key. This selects the assembly that holds the selected actor. Continue to press the left or right arrow key to change your selection.
Selection and highlighting colors depend on the selection mode. Choose colors from Document Properties - Selection. See Selection. Use assembly selection mode whenever possible to improve performance and to create more maintainable animations (because actors inherit assembly keys). For example, you have an assembly with 10,000 parts. To change the opacity of the entire assembly during an animation, enable assembly selection mode, select the assembly, and change the opacity. This creates one animation key. The alternative is to use default mode, select the assembly (which selects all 10,000 parts), and change the opacity. This creates 10,000 keys. The performance with one key is better than with 10,000 keys. In addition, if you add another part to the assembly, the assembly key applies to the new part automatically. You can also use assembly selection mode to implement compound motion, where actors move in more than one direction. A common example of compound motion is when you combine translation of an assembly of nuts or bolts with rotation of the individual nuts or bolts. This allows the nuts or bolts to rotate around their own axes while the entire group of nuts or bolts moves.
Note: The properties available for an assembly might differ from the properties available for individual geometry actors.
Show Actors with Kinematic Links Only Lists in the Assembly tree only actors with kinematic links. See Kinematic Commands.
Create Selection Set Creates a selection set containing the selected actors. Selecting a selection set selects all actors in the set, and the Properties pane displays properties common to all actors in the set. Use selection sets to operate on the same actors repeatedly. Selection sets are listed in the Assembly pane. When you create a selection set, its name is selected so you can type a different name.
Create Hotspot Creates a hotspot containing the selected actors. Hotspots are groups of actors, similar to selection sets, with shared highlight, tooltip, and link properties that can supersede those of the individual actors. Although hotspots can be active in the viewport, their primary purpose is for defining custom hotspots in vector output (see Hotspots Tab). Hotspots can contain geometry actors and most collaborative actors (not ground, cutting planes, and other non-vectorizable actors).
Notes: Hotspots are always listed in the Assembly pane, even when the hotspot contains collaborative actors. To create a hotspot:
  1. Select one or more actors.
  2. Click Create Hotspot .

    The new hotspot appears under Hotspots in the Assembly tree, and hotspot properties appear in the Properties pane. See Properties.

  3. Optionally type the hotspot name or press Enter to accept the default.
  4. Specify hotspot properties in the Properties pane.
Sort Alphabetically Sorts the tree by alphabetical order. By default, the actor order for SOLIDWORKSassemblies matches the CAD system.
Configure Columns Displays the Configure Columns dialog box, where you select columns to display. See Configure Columns.
Search Actors Displays the Search pane, where you can search for actors. See Search.

Click to access the Search Next Actor and Search Previous Actor commands, which find the next or previous actor using the current search criteria.

Select Actors Displays the Select pane, where you can select actors using advanced capabilities. See Select.

Collaboration Pane Icons

This section describes the icons used in the collaboration pane.

To show or hide an actor in the viewport, select or clear the check box next to the actor name.

Tip: You can also hide an actor in the viewport by selecting it and pressing H. Click an actor name to select the actor. Right-click an actor to access functions such as copy, paste, and delete.
Note: If a node has no actors, you cannot expand or select it.

IconCommand NameDescription
AnnotationsLists the scene annotations, such as labels and links. See Annotations Commands.
CalloutsLists callouts. You can create BOM IDs and callouts automatically from the BOM workshop. See Annotations Commands and Definition Tab.
CamerasLists camera actors. Cameras let you view your scene from different perspectives. The Camera actor is defined by default and cannot be deleted. Create additional cameras with Add Camera .
Coordinate systemsLists user-defined coordinate systems. See Measurements Commands.
Cutting planes

Lists cutting planes. See Cutting Planes Commands.

EnvironmentLists the following environment actors:
Note: To select these actors (for example, to edit their properties in the Properties pane), click Compass or Ground in the Collaboration pane. You can also select these actors in the viewport by dragging a selection box, but only if they are the only actors selected.
Intersection lines

Lists intersection lines saved from a clash test. See Clearance Checking.

LightsLists lights. See Lighting Commands.
Magnetic linesLists magnetic lines. See Tools Commands.
MarkupsLists scene markup actors, such as arrows, redlines, circles, and polylines. See Markups Commands.
MeasurementsLists scene measurement actors. See Measurements Commands.
PanelsLists 2D and 3D panels, including the BOM table. See Panels Commands and BOM Workshop.
PathsLists associative and non-associative paths. See Paths Commands.


Selection setsLists the selection sets containing at least one collaborative actor. See Assembly Pane.

Right-click Commands

Right-click group or actor to display a context menu.

Note: You can also copy, cut, and paste collaborative actors with Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V, respectively. See About Copy/Paste for details.

Command NameDescription
Delete ActorsDeletes the selected actors.
Important: Deleting an actor removes it from all views. Consider hiding instead of deleting actors.
Tip: To delete all actors of the same type, right-click the parent node (such as Annotations or Callouts) and click Delete Actors.
Rename Actor Renames the selected actor.
Add Actors to Selection Set (Available when you right-click a selection set.) Adds the selected actors to the selection set.
Remove Actors from Selection Set (Available when you right-click an actor under a selection set.) Removes the selected actors from the selection set.
Delete Selection Set (Available when you right-click a selection set.) Deletes the selected selection sets.
Select Actors with Broken AssociationsSelects all collaborative actors whose associated geometry actors have been deleted. For details about associativity, see About Actors and Associativity.

For example, updating a Composer document with a CAD file with deleted geometry can result in collaborative actors, such as measurements and labels, with broken associations. Use this command to select these collaborative actors and then delete them or associate them with different geometry actors.

Expand AllDisplays all tree nodes.
Collapse AllDisplays only top-level tree nodes.


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