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Custom properties are a means for defining attributes of a document. There are standard properties shown on the Summary tab and user-defined custom properties shown within the Custom tab. These attributes can also be re-used within the document and downstream by other applications.
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| Figure 1 - Properties dialog boxes |
Terminology:
- Drawing Sheet – A drawing sheet is a page in a drawing document. A drawing can contain multiple drawing sheets. Only one sheet is visible at a time. Each drawing sheet is defined by a size and sheet format.
- Sheet Format – A sheet format typically includes page size and orientation, standard text, borders, title blocks, and so on. Sheet formats can be customized and saved for future use. Each sheet of a drawing document can have a different format.
- Template – A template is a document (part, assembly, or drawing) that forms the basis of a new document. It can include user-defined parameters, annotations, or geometry.
A custom property is an attribute (metadata) defined within the document. These properties and their values can be defined within the File/Properties dialog box. One way in which these attributes can be used is to complete the annotation of a drawing format without having to edit the sheet format.
Defining the properties and re-using them to annotate the format eliminates the need to edit the sheet format to complete the titleblock information. This is easier for the users and insures that titleblock entries are not moved or deleted.
Where to start
The general steps required when creating custom formats are as follows:
- Create a drawing that defines the titleblock. This can be done by editing one of the templates that come with SolidWorks®, or by importing a drawing template defined within a legacy system.
- Define the custom properties. Optionally, the properties.txt file can be used to limit the menu selections within the Custom dialog box.
- Put all the drawing format entities on a layer(s). This could be one or more layers based on how the documents will be used. This allows for the drawing format to be easily turned on or off and these layers are supported during DXF™/DWG export.
- Tie the notes to the custom properties using the Link to property icon
 within the PropertyManager.
- Review the other document properties (Tools/Options/Document Properties).
- Save the drawing as a document template. Also note that these templates can be added.
- Repeat this process for each drawing size. Note the use of Copy/Paste to re-use the drawing format.
Creating the links
When creating a note, symbol, or link to a custom property, the Link to Property or Add Symbol  icons can be used to add the desired value to the note. Within the note a symbol is denoted enclosed within brackets. For example, the plus or minus symbol is denoted by using . A property value is denoted by $PRP:"name", where name is the name of the property. There are a number of properties predefined by SolidWorks and these are property names with the SW prefix.
The following chart shows all the notes used to define the titleblock shown in Figure 2. These values are a combination of text, symbols, and properties based on each field.
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| Figure 2 - Titleblock example |
| Item # |
Text Value |
| 1 |
ANGLES$PRP:"TolAng" |
| 2 |
DECIMALS.XX$PRP:"TolXX" |
| 3 |
DECIMALS.XXX $PRP:"TolXXX" |
| 4 |
DECIMALS.XXXX $PRP:"TolXXXX" |
| 5 |
$PRP:"Material" |
| 6 |
$PRP:"Finish" |
| 7 |
$PRP:"ChkBy" |
| 8 |
$PRP:"DrawnBy" |
| 9 |
$PRP:"DrawnByDate" |
| 10 |
$PRP:"ChkByDate" |
| 11 |
$PRP:"EngBy" |
| 12 |
$PRP:"MEngBy" |
| 13 |
$PRP:"QABy" |
| 14 |
$PRP:"MEngByDate" |
| 15 |
$PRP:"QAByDate" |
| 16 |
$PRP:"EngByDate" |
| 17 |
SCALE: $PRP:"SW-Sheet Scale" |
| 18 |
CAD FILE: $PRP:"SW-File Name" |
| 19 |
$PRP:"PartNo" |
| 20 |
SHEET $PRP:"SW-Current Sheet" of $PRP:"SW-Total Sheets" |
| 21 |
$PRP:"CompanyName" |
| 22 |
$PRP:"Description" |
| 23 |
$PRP:"Revision" |
Conclusion
The use of custom properties makes the creation of drawings easier and more consistent. To share the formats with others, set the Document Templates directory within the Tools/Options/File Locations dialog box to a common location.
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