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Can Command Aliases Be Used?

colin_starker933
colin_starker933 Member Posts: 39 ✭✭
in Community Support

I use OnShape Free for personal projects and Inventor at work. I have Inventor configured so I can access nearly everything from the keyboard with command aliases. I have not found this functionality in OnShape and it’s painfully slow to use as a result.

In Inventor, I type the first few letters of the command then hit enter when I see it narrow down to the correct one. I even access document properties and settings this way. Any item in the ribbon in Inventor can be accessed with an alias. My mouse remains conveniently close to the model and never needs to travel to the ribbon.

Using OnShape is a bit torturous without command aliases. I have not been able to find this feature. I am 10X slower in OnShape purely because of this reason, no exaggeration. Is this feature available in higher plans? Are there any extensions that add this?

My doctrine is that the mouse should be used only when necessary. 10 fingers are always faster than 1 hand.


Best Answer

  • NeilCooke
    NeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 6,092 image
    Answer ✓
    No plans to add this.
    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA

Answers

  • NeilCooke
    NeilCooke Moderator, Onshape Employees Posts: 6,092 image
    Answer ✓
    No plans to add this.
    Senior Director, Technical Services, EMEA
  • S1mon
    S1mon Member Posts: 4,456 PRO
    There are many keyboard shortcuts. Hit '?' to see them. They can also be customized to a degree, and there is a shortcut menu which can be customized.

    Simon Gatrall | Product Development, Engineering, Design, Onshape | Ex- IDEO, PCH, Unagi, Carbon | LinkedIn

  • romeograham
    romeograham Member, csevp Posts: 770 PRO
    You can also start typing to find features
    Alt-C (Option-C) opens the search dialog, and then start typing. "Mut..." will find Mutual Trim, for instance (and all the other matching commands). This works for default toolset features as well as your custom features you have in your list. I find it's often faster than poking through menus for commands.
    The search is pretty smart, too - if I misspell a command (type "file" instead of "fille..." for Fillet) it will still return the correct item very quickly.


  • colin_starker933
    colin_starker933 Member Posts: 39 ✭✭
    NeilCooke said:
    No plans to add this.

    Sad, it's a well-established standard that keyboard shortcuts are faster than using just the mouse. That's been true for decades. I am not surprised that basic ergonomics are ignored considering that OnShape did not have proper model orbiting until recently (constrained orbit).
  • S1mon
    S1mon Member Posts: 4,456 PRO
    If Onshape had started with only a constrained orbit view mode, I would have been much less likely to start to use it. It really depends on what you're used to and the sort of modeling that you do. To each, his own.

    Simon Gatrall | Product Development, Engineering, Design, Onshape | Ex- IDEO, PCH, Unagi, Carbon | LinkedIn

  • Paulo
    Paulo Member Posts: 27 ✭✭
    Keyboard shortcuts are much different than command line input (like autocad) which requires you to take your hand off the mouse (unless you speed type with one finger).
  • jnewth_onshape
    jnewth_onshape Member, Onshape Employees Posts: 89 image
    @colin_starker933 The s-menu might be a good tool for you. You hit 's' in part studios, drawings, sketches, or assemblies, and a toolbar pops up very close to the mouse cursor. This can be configured, under My account > Preferences > Shortcut toolbars. You can also add custom features to it, making it a very flexible interface.
  • colin_starker933
    colin_starker933 Member Posts: 39 ✭✭

    I came back to Onshape after working with Ansys for a while. Still no plans to add aliases for all commands?

  • S1mon
    S1mon Member Posts: 4,456 PRO
    edited August 9

    Many things can get custom keyboard shortcuts these days.

    https://cad.onshape.com/help/Content/Home/keyboard_shortcuts_and_hotkeys.htm

    Simon Gatrall | Product Development, Engineering, Design, Onshape | Ex- IDEO, PCH, Unagi, Carbon | LinkedIn

  • colin_starker933
    colin_starker933 Member Posts: 39 ✭✭
    https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/comment/132718#Comment_132718

    Many things, but not everything, and there is a huge difference between those regarding speed and RSI prevention. Ideally, every UI action and tool should be reachable from an alias, which the fastest, or a command line or search box at minimum. The mouse should be reserved for manipulation of the model.

    Solidworks is a good example of this implementation. A non-CAD example is Sioyek PDF reader with nearly no GUI at all (because competent users outgrow it) and everything is reached with a command line. Of course, in both examples, shortcuts can be assigned to anything too.

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