Michael Lord

I can’t say that I have ever used the “Recent Documents” all that much in the past.    When the Recent Documents graphical interface was first introduced in SolidWorks 2008 it’s access was via File>Browse Recent Document or by the default Keyboard shortcut – R     One of the reasons for not using Recent Documents was that many year previous to it’s introduction I had set my own Keyboard shortcuts and R was Right View (as R – Right, L-Left, F – Front, and so on)   There was no great advantage by then going File>Browse Recent Document as they were then already listed and all you achieved was an graphical display!    Nothing changed with Recent Documents until SolidWorks 2012 introduced the availability to “Pin” the required documents to the List (& consequentially the Recent Document Graphical View)    Additionally there was a Preview/ Path when hovering over the file, which made going to Recent Document even less necessary!

However now with SolidWorks 2014 I’m going to have to seriously reconsider that! (& set, most likely a mouse gesture shortcut).   The  “Recent Documents” feature has had some major enhancements which now makes it a very functional feature.

It is still accessed via the File>Browse Recent Document or by the default Keyboard shortcut – R     Previously all you could do was Open the document.  Now there are a number of available options accessed via selecting and expanding the display in the lower RH corner.

There is now the Option to either Open or Open Read Only.   With Assemblies you can open the file in different Modes.  (Resolved, Lightweight, Large Assembly, Large Design Review)

Most importantly there is the option to select which Configuration (in both Parts and Assemblies) to Open

Also with Assemblies you can display and access the Referenced Parts

Now here is the real deal breaker!  When you are working in an Assembly and open the Recent Documents,  you can select a part, Drag & Drop that Part into the Open Assembly!

If the part has a Configuration(s), they are then displayed with the options of which configuration to use!

The ability to be able to Drag & Drop parts from the Recent Documents (into Assemblies) along with enhancement across all of SolidWorks 2014 on how configurations are selected (both in the Recent Documents & access via the Context Toolbar) will certainly make me reconsider how I work within Assemblies.

Whilst I was having a look at Recent Documents, for this post, I had an interesting discovery!

When working within an Assembly which has a “Local Pattern”, as you hover over that Pattern, SolidWorks 2014 will now display all the information used for that Pattern, the Type, Direction, Seeds, Spacing & number of Instances!  Along with Instances Skipped and Patterned Seeds!

That applies not only to an assembles but to Patterns in Parts as well.  Which also includes the Pattern in Part, which is in the Assembly.  (Although I’m show the Part separately below)   This displays the same type of information, the Type, Direction, Seeds, Spacing & number of Instances

A nice little Information bonus!