Configuring hole callouts
Level = Intermediate

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The Hole Wizard can be used to create holes that are intelligent. Not only is it easier to create these holes initially, but these attributes can be re-used to annotate the drawing. SolidWorks® also allows for the style and format of the hole callouts to be edited by the format of a text file named calloutformat.txt located in the <SolidWorks install directory>\lang\<language> directory.

There are two versions of the file within this directory, calloutformat.txt and calloutformat_2.txt. calloutformat_2.txt is a simpler file format. To use this file, rename the file calloutformat.txt and edit as desired.

Figure 1 - Drawing view with hole callouts shown

To re-use the information defined within the Hole Wizard, select the Hole Callout icon and select the holes. Figure 1 shows some simple holes that were annotated automatically by selecting the holes within the drawing view. The only text added was the number of times the hole appeared (i.e., 3X).

Configuration file
The format of the file can be edited to the needs and standards of an organization. The "*" symbol means the line is ignored and can be used as a comment. To help break a long line into a couple of shorter lines, a "\" symbol can be used at the end of the line to show the next line is a continuation of the previous line.

The following is an example of two counterbored hole values. So what can be customized within this file? The order of the variable name, symbols, and any other text values you wish to display. The category names (i.e., COUNTERBORE-BLIND) cannot be customized. Each line follows the format of <category name>= <a combination of text, symbols, and variables>

Variable names
The definition of the symbol is a combination or user defined text, Hole Wizard variable names, and symbol names. All symbol names are shown in uppercase and surrounded by brackets. For example, is the diameter symbol. The Hole Wizard variable names are shown in lowercase and enclosed with brackets. The following is a list of the Hole Wizard variable names: