SolidWorks Spelling Check (who’s using it?)

I recently conducted a small poll on SolidWorks Yahoo! Group asking who was using SolidWorks Spelling Check.  To my surprize, almost half (so far) have never even hear of Spelling Check.

Spelling Check Poll

Only 21% of respondents use Spelling Check regularly.  I guess the next question is, “Why aren’t more people using this seemingly obvious tool in SolidWorks?”  Is there a good answer for that?  From my own experience, I use Lenny’s CommonNotes, which means most of my general notes are pre-fabbed.  Since the bulk of the text appears in the general notes, there isn’t much text left in the body of the drawing where misspellings can hide.  So, out of a lack for necessity, I’m in the “Yes, sometimes” category.

Here’s the kicker.  For the Spelling Check to work, Microsoft Word has to be installed since SolidWorks piggybacks the Microsoft spell checker.

This brings me to another point.  Why does this tool have a weird name?  We all know this function is a spell checker.  So, why is it referred to as “Spelling Check” in SolidWorks?  This seems to be a rather odd quirk.

(To access Spelling Check, open a drawing and goto Tools pulldown>Spelling….)

Author: fcsuper

As a drafter, mechanical designer and CAD engineer, I've been in the mechanical design field since 1991. For the first 8 years of my career, I was an AutoCAD professional. I utilized AutoLISP and many other AutoCAD customization features to streamline drafting activities for 6+ drafters and designers. I authored several custom functions, one of which was published in the March 1997 issue of Cadalyst Magazine. Since 1998, I've been used SolidWorks non-stop. I've worked to utilize the SolidWorks' user environment to simplify drafting and design activities for 20+ engineers. I've created this website to provide current information about SolidWorks from a variety of contributors. More recently, I am now employed by Dassault Systemes as SOLIDWORKS Sr. Product Definition Manager to improve drawing, annotation and MBD related areas.

2 thoughts on “SolidWorks Spelling Check (who’s using it?)”

  1. I also wonder how many people are using the Design Checker to make sure their drawings conform to company ‘standards’…

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