SOLIDWORKS 2017 Top 11 Features: Configuration Sort Order

In our blog series, SOLIDWORKS 2017 Top 11 Features, we have highlighted several of our engineers’ favorite changes to SOLIDWORKS’ user interface. In addition to bringing back the classic icon colors and enhancing Selection Breadcrumbs, SOLIDWORKS 2017 also improved the user’s ability to customize configuration sort order.

What is configuration order?

Configuration order is the order in which configurations, or arrangements of elements, are listed in SOLIDWORKS’ ConfigurationManager. Anyone who has used SOLIDWORKS configurations knows that sorting through this list is time consuming and a headache, if even possible. Because of how configurations are randomly assigned part numbers, there was no easy way to filter through features. 

But gone are the days of only being able to sort by configuration name. With SOLIDWORKS
2017 Configuration Sort Order, there are four options to sort by:

• Numeric: Order numerically
• Literal: Order alphabetically
• Manual: Order by dragging and dropping each configuration
• History-Based: Order chronologically

>> Read more of the Top 11 Features in SOLIDWORKS 2017 blog series

How does SOLIDWORKS 2017 Configuration Sort Order improve your workflow?

SOLIDWORKS 2017 gave users the power to change their Tree Order with the click of a button. Having the option to manually order configurations provides drastically more flexibility and can save companies a lot of time in their workflows. Understanding this new function can turn your ideas into finished products faster than before.

Download our Top 11 Features in SOLIDWORKS 2017 infographic to see how other enhancements can improve your workflow.