Power Select

In this blog I am going to talk about a VERY under used, and almost unknown tool in SOLIDWORKS.

The POWER SELECT.

Ever wanted to select all the fillets/cuts/extrudes/etc in a part ?
How about all the faces/features/parts/etc that are colored a certain color ?
All the convex or concave edges ?
The possibilities of obscure things you can select with this tool go on and on…

I know that some of this selection can be achieved by using the FILTER box on the top of the Feature Manager / Assembly Tree, or possibly by using the F5 filters, but nothing like what the POWER SELECT tool can do for you !   Plus it is all in one place !

The tool is located under TOOLS — POWER SELECT. (great time for you to assign a keyboard shortcut !)

It then launches over in the Task Pane and has primary selection options for Edges, Features, Faces, and Loops. Then subcategories under each of those such as Feature Type, Face Color, Feature Color, Edge Convexity, and Surface Type just to name a few. There is then a 3rd category of refinement for Fillets, Cuts, Concave, Plane, Cylinder, etc depending on your other choices.
One of the neatest ones is the Select by COLOR, and then an option to let you select what color by picking on the graphics screen and it will select all the faces, features, etc. matching that color.
The posibilities go on and on with this tool of course.

Play with it for 2 or 3 minutes yourself and I guarantee you will start using it !
A LOT !!