SOLIDWORKS Electrical lets the engineer display design information using attributes that can be used with symbols, title blocks and connection tables. By using attributes, the user can make a design change in one location and have the change be carried throughout the whole project. Let’s take a look and see how this works.

When opening a symbol in the editor, you will notice that attributes are represented by a # followed by text.

To configure attributes for a symbol, the user must open the symbol in the editor through the library or by right-clicking on the inserted symbol and selecting open. The user can then add and remove attributes within the editor. Inside the edit symbol tab there is an icon titled Insert Attributes. Looking at the description, the user can determine what design information the attribute will display. Checking the box will insert the attribute. 

Once inserted, the user can then change the text size, color, and justification through the properties panel to the right. A nice feature about symbol attributes is that they can be hidden or shown once the symbol is inserted in the schematic. This can be accomplished by right-clicking on the symbol and selecting the option that says attribute and selecting which attribute they would like to display or hide.

Symbol attributes mostly display manufacture part information, but attributes within a title block will also show drawing and project properties. To configure attributes on a title block, the user will need to open the title block in the editor just like a symbol. Looking at the picture above, you can see that rows and columns on title blocks are set up using attributes. This gives the title block the intelligence to give locations when using origin destination arrows or symbol cross-referencing.

The user can also add attributes that relate to the drawing position in a project book. This is helpful because it lets the user re-order drawings in the document tree. Right-clicking on the book and selecting renumber documents, the attributes related to the page number will update accordingly.

The user can also leverage attributes when it comes to making a connection table by creating a connection table from scratch, or edit an existing one. With that being said, the user will need to be working in the editor again to setup a connection table.

The structure of the connection table and the headers of the columns are created using static geometry and text from the Draw tab. When inserting the connection table into the drawing, the user will need to associate it to the appropriate component to display design information.

Attributes are more flexible than static text because making changes to a project will also update the attribute. Making changes to attributes whether it’s on a symbol, title block, or connection table can be done quickly through the editor. It is important to note that any changes made to the attribute needs to be saved before leaving the editor or the attribute edits will not be applied.

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