SOME USEFUL TIPS WHILE WORKING WITH SOLIDWORKS

1. Try using the 3 default planes as max as possible.

2. Select the proper plane to begin your sketch.
3. Use mouse right click option to select the commands in ease manner, like select
from the drop down menu or from recent commands.
4. Always use a fully defined sketch.
5. Make a customized toolbar to use the feature and other options.
6. Use mouse buttons for zoom in/out, rotating and panning the models.
7. Click off the things in the View like temporary axes, sketch relations, etc.
8. Keep level of details on lower side and mate animation speed set to fast in
Tools>Option>System Option> Performance.
9. Keep Image quality in Tools>Option>Document properties on lower side.
10. Dont change the default settings for line types, colors, etc.
11. Use design table/ Configurations in parts & assembly.
12. Use equations/ link values to work quicker.
13. Make default templates for metric/ inches settings for part, drawing & assembly.
14. During applying mates in assembly, select the edge, press Alt button and drag
the part to respective face to get the concentric and coincident mate in one go.
15. Press Alt while reordering parts in the main/top level assembly to avoid them
being added to the any sub assembly.
16. Use faces, axes, default planes for mating in assembly.
17. Use design library to create parts/features to be used repeatedly.
18. While making and default plane or axis try using default planes as reference.
19. Ctrl-TAB: Cycles through open SW documents, Also works in other Windows
applications.
20. Alt-TAB: Cycles through open applications.
21. Turn off the SW Thumbnails
22. Arrow = rotate 15 degrees (settable in Tools, Options)
23. Shift-Arrow = rotate 90 degrees
24. Ctrl-arrow = pan
25. Alt-arrow = spin around screen center
26. Drag a box around items to select.
27. RMB selection options: Select loops, chains, tangency, partial loops, open loops,
Select Midpoint,etc.
28. Move dims / Copy dims: Move = Shift-drag, Copy = Ctrl-drag
29. Dont rename files from Windows Explorer unless it is a document with no
references (part not used in an assembly, assembly not used in another assembly or
a drawing), or you know in advance how youre going to solve the problem which
youre about to create.
30. Use menu File, Save As when the assembly is open to attach renamed file to
existing assembly.
31. Use SolidWorks Explorer to copy or rename files and maintain references
32. File naming conventions
* Avoid names like bracket, cover, base, etc.
*SolidWorks can only have one part with a given name open at a time
* The second part with the same name as another open part will use the first opened
part
* It is best practice to use sequential part numbers in such a way that you can
guarantee that there will not be any duplicate file names.

OTHER THINGS TO BE TAKEN CARE OFF

1. Defragmentation and disk cleanup once in 15 days
2. Remove Temporary Files from:
C:\temp, C:\<Operating system>\temp, <user profile>\Local Settings\temp,
swxXXX folders, Swxauto folder (SW Auto Recovery Files).
3. Remove Temporary Internet Files from <user profile>\Local Settings\Temporary
internet Files.