SolidWorks 2011 Parts Bible - Matt Lombard [28]
Many people claim to have customized the “S” toolbar to such an extent that they have been able to remove the CommandManager and all other toolbars from their interface. This is possibly true if you use a limited number of sketch entities, sketch relations, and feature types, or make extensive use of flyouts on the “S” toolbar. However, if you work with a wide range of tools (say, surfacing, sheet metal, and plastic parts), you may need some additional toolbar space. It is completely believable to have access to most of the software's function with the “S” toolbar and either the Menu Bar toolbar or the CommandManager. CommandManager by far gives you the most flexibility, but it also requires the most space.
FIGURE 2.12
Right-click on the Shortcut “S” toolbar to customize it.
The “S” key shortcut may conflict with another keyboard customization you have done, depending on how your software was installed. To change the “S” toolbar key to another character or to reassign it, follow the directions for creating and maintaining hotkeys later in this chapter in the section on customization. It is referenced as the Shortcut Bar in the Keyboard list (Tools⇒Customize⇒Keyboard).
Using Tool tips
Tool tips come in two varieties: large and small. Large tool tips show the name of the tool and available shortcut keys, along with a brief description of what it does. Small tool tips show only the tool's name and shortcut keys. To change the tool tip display from large to small, or to deselect the tool tip display altogether, choose Tools⇒Customize. The options for using large tool tips and showing tool tips appear in the upper-right corner, as shown in Figure 2.11. In addition to the tool tip balloons, tips also appear in the status bar at the bottom of the screen when the cursor is over an icon. Figure 2.13 shows a comparison between large and small tool tips.
FIGURE 2.13
SolidWorks uses large tool tips by default.
Note
The Customize option (Tools⇒Customize) is inactive unless a SolidWorks document is open. To access the Customize dialog box, first open a SolidWorks part, assembly, or drawing and then choose Tools⇒Customize from the menu. Customize is different from the Customize Menu option found in all SolidWorks menus. The Customize Menu option is discussed later in this chapter.
Managing toolbars
After all that, if you still feel you need to work with standard toolbars, it is easy to move, select and deselect, and add icons to toolbars. It is important to remember that different document types retain different toolbar settings; for example, the toolbars that you see with a part open are different from the toolbars that you see for drawings.
When you are working on parts, it is important to have both the Sketch and the Features toolbars active. When you are working on a drawing, you will never use the Features toolbar, but you will frequently use the Sketch toolbar. Likewise, for assemblies, you may want to display some additional toolbars and eliminate others. For this reason, when you change from a part document to a drawing document, you may see your display adjust because the changing toolbars increase or decrease the amount of space that is required.
Best Practice
It is best practice to set up the toolbars for each document type so that they take up similar amounts of space — for example, two rows on top and one column to the right. This way, changing between document types is not so jarring, and the graphics area does not need to resize for each change.
Moving toolbars
To move a toolbar, you can click with the cursor at the dotted bar on the left end of the toolbar, as shown in Figure 2.14. The cursor changes to a four-way arrow and you can then drag the toolbar where you want it. Toolbars dock either vertically or horizontally. You can resize undocked toolbars so that they have rows and columns. This arrangement is typically used with the Selection Filter toolbar, which