Introduction to SolidWorks

Lesson 1 – Introducing SolidWorks
Section I – Preliminaries 1.3 Starting SolidWorks

1 .3 Starting SolidWorks

Step 1: To start SolidWorks, click on the SolidWorks icon shown in

Figure 1.1. It should be on your desktop. If the SolidWorks icon is not on

your desktop, you can start the program from the start menu by clicking

StartAll ProgramsSolidWorksSolidWorks. You can also use

Windows Explorer or “Windows Search” to find the file sldworks.exe in the

directory C:\Program Files\SolidWorks\SolidWorks. Double-click to start

the program.

After you start SolidWorks you will see a familiar
Windows desktop. Notice, in Figure 1.2 that:

1. The SolidWorks banner is at the top-left
   corner.


2. The Windows Main Menu is adjacent to
   the banner. It includes the Windows drop-
   down menus File, View, Tools and Help.


3. Other menus will appear when needed,
   depending on what you are doing.

If you do not see the

Main Menu, move

your mouse cursor

over the SolidWorks

banner to show it. To

keep it visible, push

on the pin.

When the pin is

horizontal, you can

toggle between the

Main Menu and the

Standard toolbar

immediately to the

right of the Main

Menu by moving the

mouse cursor over

the banner.

Finally, if you wish to

see the content of a

drop-down menu,

click on its label.

Figure 1. 1 –

SolidWorks Icon

SolidWorks and Windows

SolidWorks is fully integrated into Windows.

The look and feel of the SolidWorks desktop

is similar to the Windows desktop. SolidWorks

Part files are stored as *.sldprt, where * is the

filename. Assembly files are stored as

*.sldasm and Drawing files as *.slddrw. It is

also possible to save templates for parts,

assemblies and drawings as *.prtdot,

*.asmdot and *.drwdot. Templates customize

how SolidWorks looks and works.

Figure 1. 2 – SolidWorks Desktop