Hidden Solidworks Commands

When using Solidworks sometimes we come across hidden commands. Those commands are Undocumented or Under-Documented in the help or in the tutorials and most of the time there great little tips to make our life a little easier when we are designing. Below is a list of Hidden Commands that I have found or have been given from Solidworks Professionals around the world.
Select a face, click "normal to" = Result you are looking at that face, but if you

want to see the other side. Click "Normal To" again and it flips 180 to the opposite side. Help Link Hold "Shift" to select a Transparent Face Help Link

Hold "Alt" and click the Triad Arrows to rotate by RH Rule - As you click it rotates one step at a time. This uses the Snap Value for View Rotation. Reference Triad Help Link

Click this Arrow of the Triad on either of the X, Y, or Z to Rotate per the instruction above. Shift + Arrow will rotate the part 90 in the direction you select Ctrl + Triad Arrow will set the Arrow "Normal to" Ctrl + Same Triad Arrow will flip 180 to the other side. In the examples below I selected "Y".

 Click the "Space Bar" brings up View Orientation. Link Keyboard Shortcuts Help Link

View Orientation Help

Virtual Sharps ("also known by the term Point Location or various other names") - To Create a Virtual Sharp in a Sketch, 3D Sketch or in a Drawing, Select the Lines that are Tangent to the Arc:

On the Sketch Toolbar select the Point icon. Help Link Depending on your "Document Property" Settings you will see your Virtual Sharp appear(Help Link):

 Shift + MMB (Middle Mouse Button) and move the Mouse - The part will zoom in and out. Ctrl + MMB and move the Mouse - The Part will Pan. Alt + MMB and move the Mouse - The Part will Roll. Help Link for Middle Mouse Hold the "Alt" key while dragging a part in an assembly and it will stop the user from placing the part into an existing Sub-assembly. Instead it places it directly below the sub-assembly. Help Link If you deal with large drawings and some views are small and hard to select on to move the view. Try holding the "Alt" key down hover over the view, then select and drag the view. Help Link Click "Enter" to repeat the last Command. Help Link Click "F" key for "Zoom to Fit". Zoom to Fit Help Link. Keyboard Shortcuts Help Link Click "S" key for a shortcut menu at your mouse pointer (Help Link):

The menu can be customized to fit the users needs. RMB (Right Mouse Button) and select "Customize". Help Link When modifying a dimension Hold the "Ctrl" key down and roll the MMB will cause the Spin Increment to increase/decrease by 1". (NOTE: These increments can be adjusted using the to the "Spin box increments" located under "Tools\Options\System Options\Spin Box Increments".)

 When modifying a dimension Hold the "Alt" key down and rolling the MMB will cause the Spin Increment to increase/decrease by .01". (NOTE: These increments can be adjusted using the to the "Spin box increments" located under "Tools\Options\System Options\Spin Box Increments".) Shift + C - will collapse all expanded tree items like features/parts. Help Topic Angular Dimensions can be changed to "0 "or as a negative, e.g. "-5"

Radius Dimension Length: Select the End points and hold "Ctrl" and select the Arc: Help Topic

Copy Plane: Hold down "Ctrl" and Select the "Plane" and drag to new Location. Help Topic Copy part (assembly): Hold down "Ctrl" and select part to copy and drag to location. F5 - Toggles "Selection Filter" Toolbar on/off. Help Topic F6 - Clears Active Filters in the "Selection Filter" Toolbar. Help Topic F10 - Hides/ Shows "Command manager". Help Topic on Toolbars Help topic on Full Screen Mode (NOTE: This hides all toolbars not just Command Manager) F11 - Toggles "Full Screen" on/off. Help topic on Full Screen Mode Ctrl-TAB: Cycles through open SW documents. Help Topic Intersection Curve - If you Pre-Select a plane, then select the Interface sketch, you
only need to pick the Face/Body and exit the sketch. It will create a 2D Sketch on the Pre-Selected plane. If you Pre-select both the Body/Face or dont Pre-Select anything and select Intersection Curve it will create a 3D Sketch instead. 3D Sketches are volatile and unstable. Help Topic

 If you have "Tools\Options\System Options or Document properties" open and you are not aware of what the function does that you have selected, you can "Click" the Help in the lower Right Corner, and it will bring up the help page just for that active screen. Help Topic When you have a SW BOM in a drawing and the title of the Column comes in as "QTY." and some Configuration Name and the user and you want to say just "QTY." instead of "Configuration Name/QTY". The Solution is to rename the "QTY." in the BOM Template to "QTY". NOTE: the "." is dropped from the Tag name, by doing this the Config name will be dropped when used in the Drawing.

Dimension Names are now listed per part under View\Dimension Names. It was moved from "System Settings\General". This started in Version 2010 Help Topic Dimension Palette - If you select a Dimension and then you select the palette and it appears. If you drag your mouse away from the palette and it disappears, you don't have to reselect the dimension, just push and release the "Ctrl" key and the palette icon reappears.

 When creating a spline that you want it to be tangent to another face. Select the Face, the Edge of the Face, and the Spline and you will get the option "Tangent to Face". Help Topic

When Merging cells in a table. You can "Shift-Select" or click Drag the mouse to the final cell, then RMB and select "Merge Cells".

 When you are in a part/assembly you can select a face and then select "L" key and it will automatically create a sketch on that face and take you into a "Sketch Line" Command. Scroll bars were removed a few versions ago, but if you like them like I do, you can turn them on in "Tools\Options\System Options\Display Selection" and it's the 3rd box from the bottom of the page. You must have everything closed out to select the option. Help Topic

 When Modifying or Editing a dimension if you click the "Up or Down" arrow key the Equation window will auto start and populate the "dimension name =" awaiting the rest of your Equation formula. To Expand the Feature Manager Tree - Select the "File name" in the very top of the tree and click "*" on the Number pad... NOTE: "Shift+8" key combination does not work, only the * on the Number pad will expand the entire tree. To Collapse the tree you do not need to select the "File name" in the very top of the tree. Just select "Shift+C" to collapse everything in the tree.

 If you have used the "Select Other" Command you can continue to remove faces, by simply RMB each face. This will allow you to dig down deeper into your file so you can pick the proper face you need. Help Topic