Customize Keyboard Shortcut Keys

You can specify shortcut keys from the Keyboard tab of the Customize dialog box.

To customize keyboard shortcut keys:

  1. With a document open, click Tools > Customize, or right-click in the window border and select Customize.
  2. Select the Keyboard tab.
Category Displays All Commands, one of the main menus, or Others. Others includes orientations, FeatureManager design tree tools, relations, etc. Macro icons with shortcuts appear in Tools.
Show Controls the display of tools within the selected category.
Search for Filters the Command field as you type.
Category Lists the SOLIDWORKS menus.
Command Lists the tools on the selected menu in Category.
Shortcut(s) Lists the keyboard shortcuts for Commands.
Search terms Lists the keywords mapped to Commands.

You can assign multiple custom Search terms to SOLIDWORKS tools that are separated by commas. With customized search terms, the Search Commands functionality finds tools that you mapped.
Print List Click to open the Microsoft Print Setup dialog box and print the selected list with columns for Category, Command, and Shortcut(s).
Copy List Click to copy the selected list to the clipboard so you can paste it into documents such as Word or Excel.
Reset to Defaults Lets you reset all keyboard shortcuts to the factory defaults or reset all customizations on all tabs to the factory defaults.
Remove Shortcut Removes a selected shortcut.

Assign Shortcuts

  1. Select a command.
  2. Press a key or key combination.
    If a shortcut key is already assigned, a message informs you. If you choose to use the shortcut for the new command, it is removed from the old command.

    Letters are shown in uppercase.

    When executing keyboard shortcuts, Caps Lock does not imply Shift and does not affect the shortcuts.

You can assign a keyboard shortcut for the Escape command so that a second key or key combination invokes the command in the same way as the Esc key. This assignment does not remove the behavior of the Esc key itself. Assigning a keyboard shortcut for the Escape command on the right side of the keyboard might be useful, for example, if you use your left hand to control the mouse.

Recommendation: Choose one of the function keys (F1-F12) as these keys will work even if a text field of a dialog has focus. The SOLIDWORKS software interprets other keystrokes as text entry when a text field has focus, so other keys will not dismiss the dialog.