How to set table anchors in SOLIDWORKS

Every now and then, I do a deep dive into a niche topic that nobody really writes about.

Because nobody is crazy enough to write 2400 words about balloons, right?

So today’s topic is: table anchors!

In this post, you’ll find

1. What are table anchors in SOLIDWORKS?
2. All available anchor point types
3. Where are anchor points saved?
4. How to know if a table is attached to an anchor point
5. Change the fixed table corner of an existing table
6. How to move a table that is stuck
7. Change the fixed table corner in a BOM or cut list
8. How to set or change a table anchor position
9. How to add a bill of materials or cut list automatically
10. Can you set multiple table anchors for a bill of materials?
11. Can you delete a table anchor?

1. What are table anchors in SOLIDWORKS?

A table anchor is a point on a drawing sheet that snaps to a table corner.

Every single table type in SOLIDWORKS has its own table anchor. This way, when you add a new Bill of Materials, SOLIDWORKS will snap that new table to its own anchor point.

2. All available anchor point types

SOLIDWORKS support eight table types:

Each table type has its own anchor point, as you can read on the official help. Multiple points can be at the same position, though.

• General Table Anchor
• Revision Table Anchor
• Bill of Materials Anchor
• Weld Table Anchor
• Hole Table Anchor
• Bend Table Anchor
• Weldment Cut List Anchor
• Punch Table Anchor

Each anchor type exists once and only once.

3. Where are table anchors saved?

• Anchor point positions are stored in the sheet format.
• The stationary corner of a table is stored inside the table template.
• Whether to attach a table to an anchor point is stored inside the table template.

The drawing template controls none of these properties. A sheet format defines the shape and looks of the drawing sheet, but the drawing template defines the properties of the drawing, the views, dimensions and annotations.

You can see a list of the anchor points in the feature tree, under the sheet format:

There are two items at the bottom of the list. The first one is Border1, so this is the border around the entire sheet.

The second one is Title Block Table2, the area that you can double-click on to start entering data into the title block. This is a great, but not well-known, feature. Click here for more info.

To change an anchor point and save the changes:

1. Start a new drawing
2. Select a sheet format
3. Change one or more anchor positions (see below how to do that)
4. Save the sheet format via File > Save Sheet Format

4. How to know if a table is attached to an anchor point

To find this out, you only need to hover over the drag icon at the top left of a table. You will see an anchor icon next to the cursor for anchored tables.

(Please forgive the fuzzy screenshot. By default, screenshots don’t include the cursor or its decorators)

Of course, you can also try to move the table by grabbing it at the top left and moving it around.

5. Change the fixed table corner of an existing table

If you have a table in your drawing and you want to change the corner that snaps to the anchor, you only have to open the properties of the table.

Now you can choose the stationary corner:

6. How to move a table that is stuck

In the same table properties menu on the left, uncheck Attach to Anchor Point to make the table freely movable again.

7. Change the fixed table corner in a BOM or cut list

The so-called stationary corner is stored inside your table template, not inside the sheet format. So to change the preferred corner of a bill of materials, cut list or any other table:

1. Create a drawing
2. Optional: add a view. Otherwise, you cannot add a BOM or other table that references a model.
3. Add a table
4. Change the stationary corner
5. Right-click the table > Save As
6. Select a location

From now on, when you add a table from a template file, it will use the corner you selected. The table template also stores whether to attach the table to an anchor or not.

8. How to set or change the position of table anchors

Although you can theoretically change the anchors when you enter Edit Sheet Format mode, this method is not ideal. It is much easier to:

1. Right-click a table anchor in the tree.
2. Select Set Anchor. You will now automatically enter Edit Sheet Format mode.
3. Click to define the new position of the anchor.
4. Once you click, SOLIDWORKS stores the new position and you exit Edit Sheet Format mode.
5. Save your change via File > Save Sheet Format.

9. How to add a bill of materials or cut list automatically

There are two ways to do this. The fixed way and the smart way:

The fixed way

You can create a drawing template that already includes a bill of materials or cut list.

But then you may need multiple drawing templates, one with a BOM and one with a cut list, which makes this approach not ideal. You don’t want to keep multiple drawing templates in sync every time you make a change.

The smart way

Drew is our drawing automation add-in. I got bored of making drawings, so I decided to automate as many steps of the drawing process as possible.

With Drew, you start a new drawing with views and outer dimensions in one click.

To do this, we store your preferred BOM template and cut list template in blueprints, our advanced drawing templates. A new drawing for an assembly automatically gets a BOM and a new drawing for a multi-body or weldment part automatically gets a cut list. We can even add a sheet per body with one click:

10. Can you set multiple table anchors for a bill of materials?

Nope. Each table type has exactly one anchor point. You cannot add a second one.

11. Can you delete a table anchor?

No, you cannot. Each anchor type has to exist once on every sheet. You can’t even suppress them.