Page 82 - Mastering SolidWorks

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50 CHAPTER 2 NavigatiNg the SolidWorkS iNterface

deal with entering conflicts—it will warn you of the conflict, and you can choose to proceed with
the change or not. Other people like to group keys into easy-to-reach combinations; this is why
the Q, W, A, S, Z, and X keys are often assigned first for right-handed mouse users.

Organizing Hotkeys
Hotkeys are assigned and organized in the Keyboard dialog box (Tools ➢ Customize ➢
Keyboard), as shown in Figure 2.25. This interface enables you to see all the hotkeys (called
shortcuts in the list) easily. If you try to enter an existing hotkey, SolidWorks issues a prompt,
telling you that the key is assigned to another command and its name. The prompt asks whether
you want to clear the other instance of the hotkey and make the new one active. You can print or
copy to the Clipboard a list of commands that use hotkeys.
Because the list of commands is so long, a Search function is available, and a drop-down
arrow makes visible only the commands from a selected menu. The list of commands
is organized by menu name, and the menus are listed as they occur in the interface.
Fortunately, you can use the Keyboard tab to sort and list menus, commands, or hotkeys in
alphabetical order just by clicking the corresponding column header. This is a highly usable
interface and one of my favorite interface changes in the last several releases.

Figure 2.25
The keyboard dialog box
(tools ➢ customize ➢
keyboard)