Assemblies Options

You can specify assembly options, including options for Large Assembly Settings.

To customize Assemblies options:
Click Options or Tools > Options and click Assemblies.
Click Reset to restore factory defaults for all system options or only for options on this page.
Move components by dragging Allows components to move or rotate within their degrees of freedom when you drag them in the graphics area. When cleared, you can still move or rotate a component with the Move with Triad function or the Move Component and Rotate Component tools (Assembly toolbar).
Optimize component placement when adding mates Places components in more logical positions on the screen and relative to other components when you create mates.

If cleared, one component in the mate might be placed off screen, or hidden behind or within other components.
Allow creation of misaligned mates Allows the creation of misaligned mates.
Save new components to external files Prompts you to name and save new in-context components to external files. If cleared, saves new in-context components in the assembly file as virtual components.
Update model graphics when saving files Prevents display list data from becoming out-of-date. Updates model graphics data for components that are edited in-context, when you save assemblies.
Automatically check and update all components in Large Design Review mode Scans all components after an assembly loads and checks whether any components are newer than the parent assembly. If so, the latest graphics data of these components is used to update the counterpart in the assembly graphics data. This procedure is time consuming.
Change mate alignments on edit When changes that you make to mates result in errors, specifies whether you want SOLIDWORKS to avoid the errors by flipping the mate alignment.

Always

Flips the alignment of the edited mate to resolve errors.

Prompt

Asks if you want to change the mate alignment to avoid mate errors. Click Yes or No in the dialog box.

If you select Don’t ask me again before you click Yes or No, the option updates to reflect your choice.

Selecting Yes changes the option to Always and selecting No changes the option to Never.

Never

Does not flip the alignment of the edited mate.
Update out-of-date SpeedPak configurations when saving files Automatically updates SpeedPak configurations.

Use this option on top-level assemblies. This option does not work for subassemblies.

All Updates all out-of-date SpeedPak configurations.
None Does not update any out-of-date SpeedPak configurations.
With Rebuild on Save mark Updates out-of-date SpeedPak configurations that have the Rebuild on Save mark .

Marked configurations rebuild every time you save the document.

Opening a Large Assembly

The selections that you make under Opening a large assembly apply only when you enable Large Assembly Settings. Specify options for normal use (with Large Assembly Settings disabled) as indicated in the option descriptions below.
See Large Assembly Settings for a list of other conditions that are specified automatically when you enable Large Assembly Settings.
Use Lightweight mode and Large Assembly Settings when the number of components exceeds Specifies the number of resolved components above which Large Assembly Settings automatically activates when opening or working in an assembly.

When you select Automatically optimize resolved mode, hide lightweight mode in Performance options, this option displays as Use Large Assembly Settings when the number of components exceeds
Use Large Design Review mode when the number of components exceeds Defines the threshold above which Large Design Review Mode automatically activates when opening an assembly from the Open dialog box. When the number of resolved components exceeds the specified threshold, Mode is automatically set to Large Design Review. You can select another mode from the list.

Large Assembly Settings

Select the following options to improve performance.

Do not save auto recover info Disables automatic save of your model. Define in Backup Options for normal use.
Do not rebuild when switching to assembly window Skips the message that asks if you want to rebuild when you switch back to the assembly window after editing a component in a separate window. Skips the rebuild of the assembly even if you have previously selected Don't show again and clicked Yes (to rebuild).

When a rebuild is skipped, a yellow warning triangle appears on Rebuild (Standard toolbar), and a tooltip states Assembly not up to date.
Hide all planes, axes, sketches, curves, annotations, etc. Selects Hide All Types on the View menu. When this option is selected, you can override it by clearing Hide All Types on the View menu, then selecting to show or hide individual types.
Do not display edges in shaded mode Turns off edges in shaded mode. If the display mode of the assembly is Shaded With Edges , it changes to Shaded . When this option is selected, you can override it by clicking Shaded With Edges (View toolbar).
Do not preview hidden component Turns off the preview when you select hidden components in the FeatureManager design tree.
Disable verification on rebuild Overrides the Verification on rebuild (enable advanced body checking) option in System Options - Performance.
Optimize image quality for better performance Downgrades your image settings to improve performance.
Suspend automatic rebuild Defers the full update of the assembly while Large Assembly Settings is enabled. Items after the Mate folder or the current editing feature in the FeatureManager design tree do not automatically rebuild.

Envelope Components

Specifies the mode in which envelope components load when you open an assembly. Select one or both:

Automatically load lightweight Loads all envelopes as lightweight.
Load read-only Loads all envelopes as read-only.

Prefix / Suffix defaults

Opposite hand mirror components Specifies a default prefix and a default suffix for opposite-hand versions of mirrored components.

Select Add Prefix or Add Suffix, and enter text.
Prefix for virtual components created from external files Specifies a default prefix for virtual components that are created from external files.