Part IV: Creating and Using Libraries
Creating a Hole Wizard Favorite
To create a Hole Wizard Favorite, set up a Hole Wizard hole as you normally would, and then use
the Add Favorite button to add it to the Favorites database. The Hole Wizard Favorite panel con-
tains five buttons:l Apply Defaults/No Favorites. Removes favorite settings from the current interface, set-
ting all values back to their defaults.
l Add or Update Favorites. Either adds a new favorite to the database or changes the name
or other settings for an existing favorite.
l Delete Favorite. Removes a favorite from the database.
l Save Favorite. Saves a favorite to an external file with the extension *.sldhwfvt, which
can be loaded by other users and added to their databases.l Load Favorite. Loads a saved favorite file.
Storing custom holes
You can use Hole Wizard Favorites to store custom holes. Create the hole with its custom sizes,
and then add the favorite and give it a recognizable name. The custom hole will now be available
to anyone who connects to the same database file.Administering Hole Wizard Favorites
The database file is typically found in the Data subdirectory of the SolidWorks installation direc-
tory, but an option in Tools ➪ Options ➪ File Locations ➪ Hole Wizard Favorites Database theoret-
ically enables you to move the file to somewhere else.Further, the *.sldhwfvt files do not have an entry in the File Locations list, but seem to always
default to the lang\english subdirectory of the SolidWorks installation directory. Neither this
location nor the Data directory makes sharing among multiple users very convenient, but both file
types can be copied to other installations. You may want to read through Chapter 18 to learn about
setting up libraries for all file types.Best Practice
It is a best practice to create a folder for library type files that you want to save and use with a future version
of SolidWorks. You can specify the locations for these files by choosing Tools ➪ Options ➪ File Locations. I rec-
ommend a location such as D:\Library. This moves the file off of the same drive as the operating system, in
case you need to reformat, and it keeps it out of the Program Files area to prevent it from being lost or over-
written when SolidWorks is installed, uninstalled, upgraded, or changed in other ways. Even for files that need
to remain in the SolidWorks installation directory (such as macros), it is best to also have these backed up in a
library location. n