SOLIDWORKS 2022 What’s New – UI Enhancements

SOLIDWORKS has done a great job over the years improving the User Interface and 2022 is no exception. SOLIDWORKS has made it even easier to navigate the User Interface, provide more information, and quickly search for tools and more. Let’s take a look.

Dismissed Messages

The first thing they have done is make it easier to find the Dismissed Messages. It now has its own tab. You will see the full information about dismissed messages. To view dismissed messages, click:

Tools > Options > System Options >

Messages/Errors/Warnings > Dismissed Messages.

Hover over a truncated message to view the full text.

Here’s what it looked like in 2021:

Message Bar

Next up is the Message Bar. It provides specific information to the active document.

There are four types of Message Bar:

• Information
• Acknowledgment
• Warning
• Error

A Message Bar can open in several circumstances, mostly as a warning about the state of the document. To dismiss the Message Bar, you need to do it manually. It will not dismiss itself.

In the example below, I opened a drawing in Detailing Mode. You will notice the Message Bar at the top of SOLIDWORKS window. I can either resolve the drawing, I can look at the limitations of the Detailing Mode. Or just close out of it.

Redesigned Notifications

SOLIDWORKS has also redesigned the notification windows. In addition to being more intuitive, the layout is much more consistent. These notifications include error messages, warnings, acknowledgement and is informational.

The notifications will appear for 5 seconds, then disappear. You can hover over them to keep visible. You do have the options to increase how long it will be visible by going to Tools > Options > System Options > Messages/Errors/Warnings.

Here is a comparison between 2021 and 2022.

Shortcut Bar and Command Search

The S key has always been my favorite. By pressing the S key, the Shortcut Tool Bar will appear. By now, I hope you realize you can customize it. SOLIDWORKS has made it even easier to do with Command Search.

Press the S key to open the Shortcut Tool Bar.

Type the first few letters of a command (extr… for example). Search All Commands dialog box will appear. You will see a list of commands and more. When hovering over one of the commands, click the Insert Command + to add to the Shortcut Tool Bar.

You still have the option to customize the Shortcut Tool Bar by right-clicking. This will open the Customize dialog box, simply drag and drop the command from the tab to the Shortcut Tool Bar.

I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2022. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2022. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”

Roger Ruffin
Senior Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

What is Design Innovation Month?

DESIGN INNOVATION MONTH 2021 – Live Events, Webinars, Virtual Showroom, Contests
Design Innovation Month is CATI’s massive “What’s New in 2022” event for SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, and 3D printing & 3D scanning technology.  That’s six weeks of in-person events, live and on-demand webinars, demonstrations, in-depth blog posts, and prizes!  Best of all, it’s free of charge!  Check the DI Month Hub for all the details and to sign up for your nearest live event.