SolidWorks Keyboard Shortcuts…Alter or Leave Alone?
March 16, 2008 14 Comments
After doing my presentation this past week on creating a smoother workflow I began to think about a recurring comment that I seem to hear when the keyboard shortcuts topic comes up. Some people tend to try and leave the "out of the box" SolidWorks keyboard shortcuts alone so that when someone uses that workstation they know exactly what some of the shortcuts are. My opinion on this topic is to customize everything so that it benefits the main user for that workstation. Now if you are working as tech support or doing training,then this is a different situation and I would recommend leaving the defaults alone so that it benefits the people you are helping or teaching. I understand where you would want to leave the defaults alone so that anyone can get on that workstation and be semi-efficient but if it is at the cost of the person that is working on that system the majority of the time being slower and less efficient I ask the question…is it really worth it? This is where you really need to weigh your options.
One way that I see as a possible fix to this problem is to set up a system where you are saving your settings on a weekly or daily basis, or at least making sure that you save them every time you make at least one change to your toolbars, shortcuts and so on. You could then give the users a flash drive that they could save their settings to so that whenever they have to move to another workstation all they would have to do is plug in their flash drive, restore their settings using the Copy Settings Wizard and now they have all of their settings on the system they are using. I think this would work flawlessly as long as everyone is saving their customized settings as they should be, but hey I guess if they are not and they loose all of their settings it may prove the point to them that they should be doing this. I think this is what they call tough love.
I am sure there are a lot of differing opinions on this topic and even systems that companies have set in place and I welcome them to be shared here.
With the shortcut bar, and context bar in 2008, the only two keys I ever press are R for recent documents, and S for the shortcut bar. Taking that one step further, I assigned one of my buttons on the side of my mouse to S, so my right hand never needs to leave the mouse, and my left hand never needs to leave my space pilot to move to the keyboard. I realise alot of people use keyboard shortcuts, and most of that I feel goes back to the Autocad days, where every command was keyboard based. Its like when Windows replaced DOS. Instead of typing in commands at a DOS prompt, we now had icons to click. Icons in a program then led to toolbars which only cluttered the screen with 55 different toolbars. In Solidworks 2008, there is virtually no need for any toolbars once your shortcut menu is set up. So I say abandon keyboard shortcuts all together, but if one must use them, I feel its better to leave the standard ones alone, but customise the rest to your needs.
Actually, I hardly ever use keyboard shortcuts. I find it really hard to remember them! Maybe I should start memorizing a few?
I stuggle with this because I don’t like being dependent on a lot of buttons. I like the interface to be the content (however obscure that may sound) but as long as I have the keyboard I have shortcuts linked to them. I’v e often thought how I would work if I didn’t have the keyboard, but haven’t tried it yet.
I use the keyboard for a small amount of items. I quit using my Space Ball when SW 2008 rolled out because I wanted to see how effective I could become without one and I have been very pleased. Because of that I have hot keys for my views and a very few other commands and that is it, otherwise I am using the shortcut bar and command manager for everything else.
Thanks for everyones feedback!
I try to leave the default hotkeys so anybody can use the system, but augment them with my own. I far prefer hotkeys to using the mouse. Even the S toolbar just uses a hotkey to bring up something you have to pick with a mouse, so why not have a hotkey for all of the items on the toolbar and save the mouse motion?
I personally wish the interface could move to a digitized screen, and that the pen used with current tablets has to get more sophisticated. The keyboard could be displayed on the screen, it doesn’t need to be a separate piece of hardware. The mouse is easy to replace, but the keyboard is not. Text and number entry needs an interface.
Changing hotkey customization in SolidWorks should not be an issue. Keyboard and graphic interface (toolbar customizations) are stored on a per user basis in the registry. When a new user logs onto the workstation, they get the SolidWorks defaults. When you log on, you get your custom settings. Unless you are giving you user name and password to other people in your office there is no reason not to customize. If you are giving your user name a password to other users (so much for network security) do not tell your system administrator. He/she will boil you in oil for breaking network sercurity like that.
I have a complete set of custom hot keys. The less I move the mouse around the screen, the more efficient I am. Having hot keys allows me to keep the mouse cursor over the area I’m affecting so I can jump between commands much faster and not have to refind myself each time I do so.
My hotkeys are regardless to S/W defaults. They are kinda hold overs from my old AutoCAD days, particularly my sketch hot keys, such as L for line, R for rectangle, and C for circle. I have my dims as O for ordinate and I for smart linear (the I is next to the O and it kinda looks like a vert Dim). I also have a keyboard with extended function keys and group zoom functions to middle 8 keys, properties/settings/inquiries to the left 8, and view toggles/misc to the right 8.
I am a BIG Believer in keyboard shortcuts. The majority of my shortcuts are sketch tools and most of them are located on the left side of the since my right hand is on the mouse most of the time. If you learn them it can DEFINITELY improve efficiency. Here is an old Blog article on it that includes a link to a list of my shortcuts.
http://www.rickyjordan.com/2006/06/keyboard_shortc.html
Best Regards,
Ricky Jordan
http://www.rickyjordan.com
I have tried Ricky Jordan’s shortcuts and I have made some changes on them according to my needs. I work only with keyboard and mouse without 3d navigation device and I can tell you that I feel more comfortable with the keyboard shortcuts. It is not hard to remember 10 shortcuts, you only need some time to get used to use them. After that you will use them without thinking of them, on the same way like you type text on your keyboard.
Try to use keyboard shortcuts. It is very comfortable…
Keyboard is the way to go…hands down.
Especially in SW2008, the rows of icons don’t even stay put. When you go to another machine the icons may be in a different place or turned off all together in which case you need to be constantly aware of toolbars and which are on and off and hunting all over for them. Perhaps most people do this without thinking about it much. If you are a complete novice, it doesn’t matter much because everything is new, but as you gain experience you will see where you waste insane amounts of time hunting and pecking through visual clutter. The “r” key on the keyboard will always be there, right where you put it.
-Shawn
I had “s” set to “sketch” when I installed SW2008, and it overrode the shortcut for the shortcut bar. Does anyone know how I can set S to bring up the shortcut bar.
Thanks
-Sumanth
Sumanth,
Go to Tools > Customize > Keyboard > then search for Shortcut Bar. When you add S to shortcut column it will warn you that you are overriding another shortcut and then you will need to add a new keystroke for sketch. I use the SpaceBar for my shortcut bar because it is the biggest key on the keyboard and hard to miss. Hope this helps!
Keyboard hotkeys are, by far, the most efficient way to go. If a function is used often enough (more than three times a day) then a hotkey (and if need, in conjunction with a macro) should be used.
Think of it this way: SW uses the “fewer mouse clicks” argument to justify their interface philosophy. If fewer mouse clicks is good, well then, ZERO mouse clicks must best. And it is.
Seriously, I fly at 2007 — I turn heads. Most of the interface “improvements” in 2008 are eye-candy only. I’m struggling to come to grips with the functionality that we’ve LOST in SW2008.
Many of the most used actions aren’t hot-keyable at all in SW2008: “hide” and “show” (of anything), for example. This is a major efficiency killer. SW2007 had context-menus with associated hotkeys (among others) that are absent in 2008. In their place are fly-out menu bars that are, not only graphically inconsistent, but not hotkey-able or macro-able at all (no options as simple as “h” and “s”) Maddening!
It’s exactly like being forced to use a graphical keyboard to use the letters “q”,”w”,”e”,”t”,”y” instead of just typing them. (maddening)
So I click my mouse many-many times more than ever now.
Thanks SolidWorks 2008!
(don’t get me started on Office 2007)
-Ted
Grrr. And here I am still looking for a concise list of SolidWorks keyboard shortcuts that I can print out and keep for reference. Thanks for the info though. Usefull…