When a part is imported from another file format into SOLIDWORKS, the orientation may not be ideal.

This is the front view and isometric view of a Parasolid file imported into SOLIDWORKS:

I would prefer the front and isometric views to look like this:

There are two ways to reorient a part file in SOLIDWORKS. The easiest way, if the only concern is the view orientation, is to “Update Standard Views”

Orient the part to a view that you want. Hit the spacebar, which brings up the orientation dialog box. Click on the third icon, “Update Standard Views”

When prompted to “Select the Standard View you would like to assign the current view to”, click on the view you want this to be.

Answer “Yes” to the message that appears.

That changes the view orientation, which carries over to drawings and that may be sufficient. But it doesn’t change the default planes. They are still where they were before.

If the default planes need to be reoriented along with the part, here is a technique that works.

After importing the part file, create a coordinate system. In this example, I created a sketch and drew a couple of lines to help establish exactly where 0, 0, 0 is and the direction of X, Y, and Z.

Save it and set the file type to what the imported file originally was (overwriting the original file). Click on options at the bottom of the dialog box and select the coordinate system that was created.

Close the part without saving and reopen the original file. The part will be oriented properly, and the default planes will be in the desired location.

If you still have questions about how to reorient a part file in SOLIDWORKS, check out our available training courses.