Speed Through Laziness

Created by: Ryan Cole, Application Engineer 

I think laziness gets a bad rap. Sure, it can mean slothful or inactive, but in this case I am talking about how it encourages efficiency! Think about it, they are synonymous: lazy can mean less work and efficient can mean less work. See? Here are some tools that can make you more efficient but really in the long run, you’re just being lazy…

The "S" Key

This was added some time ago and has been a staple of the lazy user. Hitting the “S” key will bring up a context-sensitive toolbar right next to your mouse with commands that you can specify on it and also what the shape of it is! Context-sensitive means that it looks different if you are in a part file, a sketch, an assembly or a drawing. Here the laziness comes from the toolbar appearing right next to your mouse and not needing to move back and forth across the screen.

Mouse Gestures

Added around the same time as the “S” key functionality, there has been somewhat of a love/hate relationship between the two. The Mouse Gesture is an “on the fly” tool. It is activated when you hold down the right mouse button and move it a little. A ring appears around the cursor and if you continue to move your mouse over one of the icons on the ring, you start the command! The neat part is when you do this quickly, the ring never appears and it looks as if you are magically turning commands on. The laziness comes in through the fact that you need only flick your wrist in the direction of the command on the ring and not go to a toolbar somewhere else on the screen.

The "D" Key

New to SOLIDWORKS 2016, this brings the confirmation corner and bread crumbs to your cursor. Traditionally, the confirmation is located in the upper right hand corner of the graphics area. This meant that in the case of a sketch, when you were done with it, you had to move your mouse to the corner and click it. By selecting the “D” key you can now bring it to you! Laziness at its pinnacle! This works for Okay confirmations as well as the new bread crumb feature also added in SW2016. Give it a try and see how you like it!

All these functions can be customized through a right-click on any toolbar on the screen and can be adjusted to what you want. In the case of Mouse Gestures, you can say whether you want 4 or 8 commands and like the “S” key it is also context sensitive. Try them out, they may be awkward at first, but so is getting more done with less effort. Thanks!