Its easy to overlook some things when you are browsing a 179 page What’s New Document. This was the case for me as I was looking through the SolidWorks 2012 What’s New document. SolidWorks 2012 adds a “Select All” feature that is pretty self explanatory. This is of course one of the handiest features in Windows programs today, and it gives SolidWorks users a few more options in selecting objects in parts and assemblies

The assembly functionality is pretty straight forward. The Select All feature (available from the menu as shown below or through the keyboard shortcut CTRL+A), selects all components within the assembly. This includes the any sub-assembly within that assembly, but it only selects the sub-assembly item, not the components individually contained within.

Part files are handled a little differently with the select all command. Parts honor the current settings on the Selection Filter bar. If you have “Filter Faces” turned on, the Select All will select all the faces. If you have “Filter Vertices” turned on, the Select All will select all the vertices. You can even combine selections to get the results you want. (Although I can’t think of too many situations where I would want to do that.)

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more!