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My method of inserting symbols into drawing notes

chrisjh777chrisjh777 Member Posts: 207 ✭✭✭✭

 I read a recent comment in the Onshape drawing discussion area, where the writer asked how another user inserted the surface finish symbol.

I thought I’d share the method I use to insert symbols, such as Greek and Mathematical, into my drawings.  I have been doing this for years in Solidworks, because the standard Solidworks Symbol Library is somewhat limited.

I created a Word Document and inserted all my commonly used symbols.  When I am drafting, I always keep this document open.  If I need to insert a symbol, I simply switch to the open document, select and copy the symbol, then paste it into the drawing Note Text Box where I need it.

At any time, I can add to the document, any new unusual symbols.  The symbol document grows with my needs.

I have attached copies of my current symbol document in  .docx format.  For those using Open Office, I tried to attach a copy in .odt format but was "not allowed".

Note that Notepad does not support some of the symbols, so don’t waste your time converting to a .txt format.  Same for .pdf files.

I use a laptop for most of my CAD/CAM activities and, for some reason, laptop keyboards do not support, like PCs, the insertion of “Alt xxx” inputs.  So I was forced to adopt this strategy.

I hope this idea is of use to others.

Comments

  • navnav Member Posts: 258 ✭✭✭✭
    Hi @chrisjh777 thank you so much for sharing this method, for me it does not work unfortunately when copying and pasting the symbols I get weird characters. 
    Nicolas Ariza V.
    Indaer -- Aircraft Lifecycle Solutions
  • chrisjh777chrisjh777 Member Posts: 207 ✭✭✭✭
    OK,

    Sounds like I need to give this some more thought and testing in Onshape.  I have only used this method in Solidworks.
  • chrisjh777chrisjh777 Member Posts: 207 ✭✭✭✭
    OK,

    I created a test Onshape drawing and tried to insert my commonly used Greek Letters and symbols into Notes such as:

    Ø  Ω  °  π  ↓  Δ  ±  ≤  ≥  ↑ λ  μ σ √  ≠  ≡  ∑  ∫  ≈  

    ⅓  ⅔  ⅛  ⅜  ⅝  ⅞  ¼  ½  ¾

      

    That which works in Solidworks does not work in Onshape  Drawings  :'(

    Funny that they insert fine in this post.

    It was a good idea.  I guess we will have to wait for more progress.
  • Narayan_KNarayan_K Member Posts: 379 ✭✭✭
    We can insert symbols in Onshape by pressing shortcut keys from key board.i.e "Alt+0216" for "Ø"
  • chrisjh777chrisjh777 Member Posts: 207 ✭✭✭✭
    Narayan_K said:
    We can insert symbols in Onshape by pressing shortcut keys from key board.i.e "Alt+0216" for "Ø"

    This approach works fine for those with PCs with a separate keyboard, but not for those with Laptops with integral keyboards.

  • viruviru Member, Developers Posts: 619 ✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2015
    @chrisjh777 ,Thanks for sharing your method. User can also insert symbol in onshape by shortcut key from key board as suggested by @Narayan_K. You can find below attachment for shortcut key.

  • mlaflecheCADmlaflecheCAD Member, Onshape Employees, Developers Posts: 179
    To add to the above discussion, there are three quick shortcuts that can also be used on most OS setups while creating notes or adding modifiers to dimensions:

    %%c      diameter
    %%d      degrees
    %%p      plus/minus tolerance

    I have tested this on Mac OSX with Chrome, but anticipate that it should work across the board on the browser versions of Onshape.


    Regards,
    Mike LaFleche   @mlaflecheCAD
  • chrisjh777chrisjh777 Member Posts: 207 ✭✭✭✭
    To add to the above discussion, there are three quick shortcuts that can also be used on most OS setups while creating notes or adding modifiers to dimensions:

    %%c      diameter
    %%d      degrees
    %%p      plus/minus tolerance

    I have tested this on Mac OSX with Chrome, but anticipate that it should work across the board on the browser versions of Onshape.



    Hi Mike,

    I found these shortcuts and have been using them. 

    I tested all combinations of %%x with all letters of the alphabet in the hope to find other symbols that may be useful.  Only the 3 that you mentioned above work. 

    I am curious to know the origins of the %% nomenclature.

  • chrisjh777chrisjh777 Member Posts: 207 ✭✭✭✭
    I am happy to report that I tested the latest iteration of Onshape and all these symbols insert fine.  Many thanks to the Onshape team for working on this.

    I successfully copied an inserted all of the Greek Symbols and Fractions as a note into Sheet 3 of the drawing in this test document.

    https://cad.onshape.com/documents/164261ef912d5f9d4cce106e/w/cddc1ed294517ac1da648079/e/1a6715e0a949384e09924203
     
  • ian_alexander202ian_alexander202 Member Posts: 3
    The easiest way is to add a note to your drawing and all the common symbols are there, you can also cut and paste into BOM's
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