Pointy arrows without the ears (a.k.a, text)?

Every once in awhile in drafting, you just need an arrow, with no text, attachments or any other extras.  Maybe you need to specify air flow, grain direction, inspection queue, assembly instructions, or one of a hundred other reasons.  How do you make just an arrow in SolidWorks?  Answer: Multi-jog Leader annotation tool.

Mutli-jog Leader is an oft overlooked tool that pretty much lets you make whatever arrow configuration you like using the same leader style of notes. 

To make a simple leader with no text, start the Multi-jog Leader and select your first point.  One arrow will point to the location where you clicked.  The other end of the leader will follow the mouse cursor.  Choose a second location and double-click to complete your leader.  This will add another arrow directly opposite your first arrow.

Get rid of one of the arrows by RMB clicking on the tip of the undesired arrow and choosing the arrowless option.

Here’s what you end up with. 

You can adjust the other end to be bigger (by RMB clicking on it and selecting Size…). In the case of the example below, I’m using the arrow to represent fluid direction of a flow body.

Author: fcsuper

As a drafter, mechanical designer and CAD engineer, I've been in the mechanical design field since 1991. For the first 8 years of my career, I was an AutoCAD professional. I utilized AutoLISP and many other AutoCAD customization features to streamline drafting activities for 6+ drafters and designers. I authored several custom functions, one of which was published in the March 1997 issue of Cadalyst Magazine. Since 1998, I've been used SolidWorks non-stop. I've worked to utilize the SolidWorks' user environment to simplify drafting and design activities for 20+ engineers. I've created this website to provide current information about SolidWorks from a variety of contributors. More recently, I am now employed by Dassault Systemes as SOLIDWORKS Sr. Product Definition Manager to improve drawing, annotation and MBD related areas. View all posts by fcsuper