A long sought after function in SolidWorks that has gone pretty much ignored is allowing users to set up Drawing Templates with two different Sheet Formats (one for Sheet 1 of X and one for all other X of X sheets). [In the past, m]ost of us just had to directly pick and load the separate X of X sheet when we add a sheet to a drawing.
Some half solutions do did exist to get around the limitation. I have seen one hack that involves using the X of X sheet Sheet Format as the default sheet format with sheet 1 of the Template itself simply having addition entities around the Sheet Format entities to form the complete sheet 1 of X “format”. Another way is was to have two sheets already present in the Drawing Template, each one with its own Sheet Format; then delete sheet 2 when it is not used. No more half steps!
There is a way to have two completely different Sheet Formats embedded into a Drawing Template without having additional sheets already present. I am currently working on writing up the protocol. I will post the steps on Thursday 7/17/08 (Instructions are now available here). The protocol is not complex as far as I can tell. I just wish to thoroughly experiment and test it before posting. Stay tuned. And, if you know of other ways do to this, then please post your methods (or links to them) here so everyone can compare notes. Who knows, maybe someone else has already published something about this I just know I’ve not seen anything in any other online resources, which is why I’m fairly excited about making this method available.
UPDATE for SolidWorks 2014
SolidWorks 2014 now has a second sheet setting in Document Properties. Fancy workarounds are no longer necessary. Please see 2014 What’s New in SolidWorks – Sheet Formats.
