When creating drawing views in SOLIDWORKS, it may be desirable to display assembly components or certain edges of a model using different line styles, thickness, or colors. Maybe you want to emphasize some part of the design or make the drawing easier to read. For whatever reason, here’s one way to do it.
We’ll start with a component in an assembly. In the graphics area, right-click the component in the drawing view that you would like to modify (you can select multiple components by holding Ctrl and can even make your selections from the FeatureManager design tree), and select Component Line Font. In this example, I’m selecting the base component of the army knife.
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This will bring up the Component Line Font dialog box. The ‘Use document defaults’ box will be checked, meaning the component display will follow the Document Properties of the template found in Tools > Options > Document Properties. Unchecking this box enables you to modify the Line style and thickness for different types of edges like visible, hidden, and tangent edges.
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We can apply this change to all views, or just the selected view. Additionally, if you have a specific layer created, you can assign it to the layer from this dialogue as well. This can be used to change the color. I increased the thickness of the visible edges of the base in the selected view and placed in on the “Red” layer. I also made some changes for some of the tools and the result can be seen below.
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If you would like to modify specific edges or lines, select the entities you want to modify and you can access Line Color, Thickness, and Style from the Context Toolbar. If you’re going to be making a lot of changes, it may be convenient to enable the Line Format toolbar by clicking on View > Toolbars > Line Format. You’ll not only have access to the tools mentioned above but layers as well.
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Be sure to stop by often for more tips and tricks and check out our YouTube channel for tutorials.
Have you ever had issues with certain parts getting stuck in a certain line font on drawing views? You can’t change the line font once this happens and are either forced to manually change each line at a time?
Hi Shane. I personally have not experienced the scenario you described above. However, I would recommend reaching out to technical support the next time you encounter that issue (or any issues for that matter) so they can investigate.
The issue Shane Reeves brought up has been an issue for SolidWorks for ever. The component line font is one of the nicest features that doesn’t work reliably. In large assembly drawings, any sub assembly that has a component line font selected, will either simple not change to the selected font, or will revert back to the default as soon as you save. I’ve had this issue is SWX 2015, 2017, and 2020, and throughout the various SPs.
Hello, how do you actually print the different color lines and thicknesses on the drawings. Its worthless to change the colors if they can’t be printed that way. I’ve been looking all over for help.
Thanks
Thanks Shawn. I’ve talked to others here and they’ve experienced the same issue as well.
Hi Benjamin,
See Shawn’s post above. This appears to be an issue.
I’m experiencing the same problem but just found a work around for this problem. Open up the assembly and move the component for which you want to change the “component line font” to the bottom of the feature manager tree. Go back to the drawing and try to change the component line font again. It should work now. Does it work for you as well?
I’m having the same problem but I just found a way to work around it. Open up the assembly and move the component for which you want to change the “Component Line Font” to the bottom of the feature manager tree. Go back to your drawing and try changing the Component Line Font again, it should work now. Did it work for you as well?