notes Archives - SolidWorks Legion

All Uppercase, or how I learned to stop worrying about CAPS LOCK in SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS 2014 introduced the All Uppercase option for Note Annotations. Forgetting to use CAPS LOCK is no longer something to fear.

There was a dark time when one had to remember to turn on CAPS LOCK keyboard toggle while they created engineering drawing notes. This was problematic because if you forgot, you’d have to retype everything. If you were creating your general notes, that was a lot of retyping. Even if you remembered to use CAPS LOCK, you’d still have to find workarounds for file properties and certain custom properties that displayed the raw system value, where capitalization wasn’t possible. A light shined upon the world in 2013. That year, SOLIDWORKS 2014 introduced the All Uppercase option for Note Annotations.

However, unlike word processor applications, SOLIDWORKS is smart about how it capitalizes text.

Original text is preserved, so if you turn the setting off, your text returns to its original state.
The setting recognizes the value of file and custom properties and capitalizes these as well.
Where you would want the “mm” in the word “dimmer” to capitalize as “DIMMER”, you wouldn’t want the “mm” in “10 mm” to capitalize. So, along with the new functionality, SOLIDWORKS is smart enough to know the difference by using its Exclusion list.

There is the ability to use the capitalization setting as a Document Property, meaning that any note you create will automatically use the All Uppercase setting. You still have local control for each note, of course.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 introduced this functionality for Tables in SOLIDWORKS. You can change the setting for an entire table, a range of cells or individual cells.

Finally, SOLIDWORKS 2020 introduced this functionality for Dimensions (including Hole Callouts).

You have the ability to set All Uppercase document defaults differently for Notes, Tables and Dimensions, so if you want to automatically capitalize your notes, but not your dimensions or tables, you have that choice.

One more point; a tip:

Select a note.
Hold down SHIFT and press F3.
While holding SHIFT, each time you press F3, you will toggle All Uppercase on and off for the selected note.
This is the same keystroke as MS Word for switching between casing options.

Sometimes it’s the little things or Freedom to zoom around (New in SolidWorks 2013)

SolidWorks had an interesting and small limitation for a long time. If you were editing an annotation note in the graphics area of your drawing (by double-clicking on it), you couldn’t use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out around the document. Sure, you had access to increase and decrease zoom level using other means, but that would be focused on the center of the screen in both directions. As such, linking your note to other annotations on other areas of your drawing usually involved planning one step ahead.

Starting with SolidWorks 2013, the mouse wheel now zooms in and out while you are editing an annotation note in drawings. For example, if you are creating your general drawing notes and wish to add a link to a dimension in a drawing view at the other end of the drawing sheet, you can now simply zoom out with the mouse wheel, move the mouse cursor to the dimension and click it, then use the mouse and wheel to zoom back to focus the screen around the general notes while you are still typing.

Another use may be if your annotation note is not yet set to wordwrap and text is extending off the screen. You can now quickly zoom out to see all of the text and set the note’s bounding box so that it wordwraps, then zoom back in to continue your edits.

This is going to be one of those little things that you won’t even notice when you use it. You’ll prolly won’t think twice about it, acting as though this was the way it has always worked.

Label Views +

[This article is outdated. The macro is no longer available. SOLIDWORKS has enhanced view label capabilities in subsequent releases, starting in SOLIDWORKS 2014. Please see current SOLIDWORKS Help for more information.]

If you have ever needed to add a label to a standard drawing view, you know it takes a few steps to get it to look like the section view labels.
Maybe you’ve added a note but accidently had the wrong view selected. Now when you move the view the note doesn’t move with that view. I hate that, and it takes time to fix.
~~Have you ever wanted to add some text to a balloon so that if you move the balloon the text moves with it? That’s done with the Group tool, but why not make it automatic?~~
~~All of the above is made easier with the revised Label Views macro.~~
Label Views is designed to help you quickly add formatted text to existing SolidWorks Views or replace an existing View Label (if desired), also automatically group text to existing Note Objects.
SolidWorks does not provide View Labels for Standard Projected Views. Label Views can add formatted text, to any SolidWorks View.
Label Views can replace-hide the default (mono-format) SolidWorks Section/Detail View Labels with multiple formatted text. However, the new Notes are “dumb” SolidWorks Notes and will NOT update if the Document Annotations format or the View Scale is changed after the Note is created.
Label Views can automatically group new text to existing Note Objects. This can allow you to keep the SolidWorks automatically updated Labels and add grouped text to it.
The “Model Links & Symbols” buttons provide a list of Model Links and Symbols you can choose from to add to the Note text. You can alter these lists to suit your needs by editing this open source macro.
This version is a complete rewrite of the code (all previous functionality is preserved, except saving User Preferences in the Windows Registry).
The .zip file contains LabelViews.swp for SW 2007 and LabelViews.dll with all the folders & files for SW 2010 32-bit.
Label Views (3.01) is available at http://sw.fcsuper.com/index.php

Thanks