Toolbar Woes
Toolbar Woes
(OP)
I told my friend I(who uses SW2006) whay his toolbars go away when he changes applications in SW. Is there a way to keep them around or make one toolbar for all the apps? I don't use the program - but this is driving him crazy.
-Joe
-Joe






RE: Toolbar Woes
Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.
--Howard Aiken, IBM engineer
RE: Toolbar Woes
Unfortunately the only way (that I know) to "keep them around" is to open a new Part, Assembly & Drawing in turn, and set the toolbars for each. SW will retain the toolbar settings for each mode when each mode is closed.
As Scorch mentioned, using the Command Manager can help to unclutter the screen & keep a more consistent "feel" to the screen layout between modes. It too needs to be set for each mode. However if you set it so that it is exactly the same for each mode, you will find that some of the icons will be greyed out according to what functions can be used within the active mode.
e.g. In Drawing mode, the Assemblies & Features icons will not be accesible.
RE: Toolbar Woes
If you set up your Toolbars in at least three rows you can easily orgainize the functions that you need. The top row of toolbars should include items that are ubiquitous to all of SolidWorks: Standard Toolbar, Views Toolbar, ect. The second row of toolbas should be populated with items that you use often in all file types: Sketch Toolbar, Photoworks, etc. The third row will be specific to the type of file that you are working on. For example, in assembly mode you could have the Assembly Toolbar, and in part mode you could have the Feature Toolbar there.
I would drop the Command Manager. It's one of those things that looks cool, but doesn't really add anything over normal toolbars. Plus it adds unnecessary clicks switching from features to sketches to surfaces. Create individual buttons as much as you can for functions that you use often. You can even create a hotkey if you don't want to clutter up your screen. Ditch items that you don't use often. If you don't work with sheet metal very often then there's no need to have it hanging around in your toolbar taking up space.
This system seems to work pretty well for me, and it keeps things a little more uniform across the board.
Hope that helps.
Dan
www.eltronresearch.com