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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Where's my "Show All Constraints" Tool?!? - Autodesk Inventor 2013

“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.”
Buddhist Proverb

Show All Constraints.  It's been in Autodesk Inventor since I started way back in the days of Release 4.  It was available from the right click menu, or by hitting the F8 key. 

The right click menu from Inventor 2012.  The "Show All Constraints" option is there like it's always been!

Just today I fired up Inventor 2013, and started up Inventor 2013, created a sketch, and right clicked to show all my constraints.


Guess what?  It wasn't there!  The hotkey (F8) still works, but it wasn't on the right click menu any more.



I puzzled for a second, then I face-palmed.

I remembered reading in the What's New for Autodesk Inventor 2013 that it was moved to the new Status Bar at the bottom of the screen!

I found it!

Along with the Show Constraints tool: some other familiar tools have been moved there (listed in order, from left to right):

  • Snap to Grid
  • Show/Hide All Constraints
  • Dimension Display
  • Slice Graphics
  • Show/Hide All Degrees of Freedom
And if you want more info on these tools, check out the Wikihelp here for the full rundown

But I like the old way better!

Now, I know that there are those out there who are asking; "Why can't we make it like it was in 2012 and earlier?"

If you are on that team, you're in luck!

Go to the "Tools' ribbon, and choose the "Customize" icon.

Choose Customize
On the dialog that appears, choose the "Marking Menu" tab.  Then in the lower left hand side, pull the fly-out open and set the Overflow Menu to "Full Menu".

Tada!
Click "OK" and the settings will be back to the older style settings!

Back to "old school"
So there it is, a few of the Inventor 2013 changes, and some ways to go back to your last release settings.

I hope the tip helped!

4 comments:

  1. that was a great tip
    thank you very much
    such nice effort you are doing in this blog

    cheers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Hani! I'm glad the tips are helpful!

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  2. Hi
    How do you add or enable show/hide all constraints in inventor 2014.
    In my status bar, I only see Snap to Grid, Tolerance, Slice Graphics, and Show All Degrees of Freedom. I am missing show all constraints tool.
    I tried to open someone's file, it was there!! I try to open a new file, it is not there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gene, I'm not sure why the show constraints icon wouldn't appear on the status bar. I'm not aware of a way to customize it. It shouldn't change based on who created the file.

      One thought are you up to date on your Inventor Service packs? Maybe even check your UAC in Windows. I've seen it do some odd things when it's left on!

      Delete