SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Chapter 2: Navigating the SolidWorks Interface

This setting applies to all the toolbar icons except the Menu Bar, RMB menu, and Context Bar

icons. The setting does apply to the S shortcut toolbar and the Heads-up View toolbar, which I dis-

cuss later in this section. Large icons can be useful on displays with very high resolution, in partic-

ular on laptops where the screen itself may be small but the resolution is very high. All the screen

shots in this book are taken with the Large Icons option selected for improved visibility. There is

often a small difference between the appearance of the large and small icons.

Limitations

If you undock the CommandManager, you cannot reorient the tabs horizontally. They remain

vertical. In addition, you cannot place multiple rows of toolbars on the same row as a Command-

Manager using large buttons with text. In addition, you cannot dock the CommandManager to the

bottom of the SolidWorks window. Another minor limitation is that although SolidWorks enables

you to place toolbars at the right end of the CommandManager, it does not allow you to place

them to the left of the CommandManager.

Using toolbars .................................................................................................

The point of the CommandManager is to enable you have many toolbars available to you in a single

click, with the main goal being space savings. SolidWorks is a complex program, with a sprawling

interface. The CommandManager does a good job of making most of it available to you quickly

without taking up a lot of space. Unfortunately, when you save one thing, you usually wind up giv-

ing up something else. Interface set up is frequently about compromise or balancing conflicting con-

cerns. In the case of the CommandManager, the compromise is between mouse travels and clicks.

You may find yourself clicking frequently back and forth between the Sketch and Features tabs. For

this reason, in my interface setup, I put the Sketch toolbar vertically on the right, and remove it

from the CommandManager. This enables me to see the Sketch and Features toolbars at the same

time, and greatly reduces the times I have to click back and forth between the tabs.

You can enable and disable toolbars in several ways. To enable a toolbar, right-click in a toolbar

area and you will be presented with a list of toolbars in SolidWorks. You can enable and disable

this list from here. Another way to do this is to use the Customize dialog box by choosing

Tools ➪ Customize, or the Customize option near the bottom of the RMB toolbar list. Yet another

way is to choose View ➪ Toolbars.

Heads-up View toolbar

The Heads-up View toolbar appears along the middle of the top edge of the graphics window.

Figure 2.8 shows the default arrangement of the Heads-up View toolbar, and it is shown in relation

to the rest of the interface in Figure 2.1.

FIGURE 2.8

The Heads-up View toolbar