#Drag the command manager by the tabs to undock it how to
Now we know how to create CommandManager tabs, so let’s take a look at a possible outcome with an example: say there’s an engineer who works for a plastic gear manufacturer that needs to be able to churn out several sizes of several designs at a time, work either from a blueprint or based off a plastic gear assembly and create the mold for injection molding. Flyout Toolbars open a mini menu of commands that can be added by going to the Flyout Toolbar category. Make sure to organize your new CommandManager tab by dragging commands to rearrange them by right-clicking the first tool of a new section and selecting “Begin a Group.” You may also select to “Delete” a command, to display the text to the side, to make a medium sized button or underneath to make a large sized button. If any commands are unclear, it can be selected on the right and the function of the tool is described in the description box below. We can go to these categories, click and hold the buttons and drag them to the newly created tab. To create these gear designs from scratch, your engineer will need commands for both Sketch and Features, two of the categories listed on the left. All available command categories will be displayed in a list to the left, and the corresponding buttons will appear to the right. At the far-right end of the tabs region, select the tab that says, “New Tab” and then select “Empty Tab.” With the “Customize” window still open, go to the “Commands” tab. Notice that your CommandManager tabs will also display any potential add-ins in dark red. To get started, right click on any of your currently open CommandManager tabs, and select “Customize CommandManager.” However, others that need to learn or work quickly can benefit from customization with this method. Many users may find the predefined CommandManager tabs are sufficient. You find yourself losing time by constantly searching through multiple tabs for just a handful of commands, you can create a tab that contains only those commands.You have CAD experience with a different program and you want to set up SOLIDWORKS interface and toolbars to reflect how you are used to working.You want to organize tabs by stage of workflow to keep commands in a chronological, clear manner.If a new employee/student is learning SOLIDWORKS but only needs to know certain tools, you can use custom tabs to only show them what's important while avoiding distractions.Some may already know new tabs can be created from scratch, but how would that be beneficial? There are a few potential time-saving reasons: These category tabs can be customized, allowing each to be added or removed as needed, whether it's Features, Sketch or any of the other groups.
The Command Manager in SOLIDWORKS is a fantastic dock for tools that allows users to view all their available “commands” or actions at once under specific category tabs.