Fixing Corrupted SOLIDWORKS Drawing Views

Recently, I was working with a SOLIDWORKS drawing that had several sheets in it, and every possible kind of view was utilized. One of these views was displaying the back view when it should have been showing the front view. At first, I was confused why I was seeing a corrupted SOLIDWORKS drawing view, but after a little troubleshooting, it was easy to resolve.

There are a few different solutions that could resolve the issue, so be sure to try them all.

Identifying a Corrupted SOLIDWORKS Drawing View

How exactly do you know that one of your drawing views is corrupted? There are a few symptoms that could point you to troubleshoot with the steps below instead of hunting down a different cause.

First, the SOLIDWORKS drawing view is displayed in a completely different orientation. While difficult to spot at a quick glance, it can be a glaring symptom of corruption. Second, after identifying the incorrect view and trying to change it, nothing actually happens. Selecting a different view doesn’t change the drawing view. The final symptom is when changing the view, you get a warning message from SOLIDWORKS notifying you that downstream views will be affected.

Three Methods for Fixing Corrupted Drawing Views

There are typically three methods used to fix a corrupted SOLIDWORKS drawing view. Traditionally, the first two would have to be used, but SOLIDWORKS recently introduced the ability to use Z-Up templates, meaning we got access to a third option!

Method 1: Creating a Custom Drawing View

The most immediate way I fixed the problem was to create a custom view. To create a custom view, press the space bar and select the New View as indicated in the image below. In the drawing, I selected the affected view and changed the orientation to the custom view.

Creating a custom view

Method 2: Resetting Views

The second method would be to fully reset the views in the assembly. In the assembly, I pressed the space bar and selected Reset Standard Views in the Orientation dialog box, as seen in step one in the left image below. The second step required me to find the view that represented the front view, orient the view correctly, and then select the Update Standard Views button.

Resetting SOLIDWORKS views

These commands will reset the views to the templated configuration and update the selected view to the current orientation, respectively. Keep in mind that when using this fix, some of the related views will be affected, and you may have to reorient some of the items, such as detail views or notes.

Method 3: Apply Y-Up or Z-Up Modes

The third method allows you to modify the model’s view orientation by choosing either the Y-axis or Z-axis as the default up orientation. This is completed by pressing the space bar to open the view orientation dialog box and selecting the Up Axis Flyout icon shown in the image below.

Setting the up-axis

Selecting either “Apply Y-Up views” or “Apply Z-Up views” will update the view orientation for standard orthogonal, child, and named views with respect to the axis chosen. Images below show the change in the Right-side view orientation for a rectangular prism model when selecting either Y-up or Z-up.

SOLIDWORKS with Z-Up configuration

The troubleshooting steps above should be enough to let you start fixing corrupted drawing views in your SOLIDWORKS drawings. However, if they don’t solve the issue TriMech is here to help!

To get additional assistance with SOLIDWORKS, contact our Technical Support team here.