Trimming and extending lines is one of the first skills that any CAD user must learn. The process is pretty straight forward; the Trim Entities tool is used to trim sketch entities to the nearest intersection and the Extend Entities is used to add length to a sketch entity until it meets another sketch entity. It is not uncommon to have s ketch that requires the user to switch back and forth from the trim to extend tools a few times during the sketch creation. But there has got to be an easier way, right?

Did you know that you do not need to switch between these two tools? As crazy as it sounds, you can use the trim to to extend sketch entities as well. Today’s Quick Tip will show you how that can be done quickly and easily.

1. The sketch below shows a couple of lines that need to be trimmed or extended to make a single rectangle. Yes I know it would be easier to just use the Rectangle tool, but this is just an example.

2. We are going to close the rectangle all without changing tools. The only tool we will need is the Trim Entities tool.

3. In the Options section of the Trim PropertyManager, select the Trim to Closest option.

4. The first trim is pretty straight forward. All you need to do is just select the side of the line that needs to be trimmed to the nearest intersection.

5. Now this is where most users would switch to the Extend Entities tool in order to extend the vertical line to the top horizontal line. But instead of switching tools, we are going to stay in the Trim Entities tool. Select the line by pressing and holding the left mouse button with the mouse pointer closer to the end of the line that needs to be extended. While still holding the left mouse button, drag the mouse pointer to the line that will terminate the selected line. Once the mouse pointer is over the target line, a preview of the line with the extra length will be shown in orange in both the gap and on the existing line.

6. If the preview is what you want, release the left mouse button and the line will be extended.

7. You can then finish the sketch by clicking the last dangling segment of the upper horizontal line, all without switching between tools.

NOTE: Notice that in Step 5, I mentioned that you need to select the line that should be extended with the mouse pointer closer to the end of the line that needs to be extended. That is the key phrase that must be repeated, otherwise the selected line will not extend as expected. If you select the line towards the other end of the line, the line will not be extended. The line would instead move to the short gap, leaving a larger gap where the line used to be. The image below shows that instead of selecting the line to be extend towards the top of the line, the bottom portion is selected.

The orange preview appears to be the extended line at first glance but if you look closer you will notice that the orange preview is only in the gap and is not on the orginal line like it is shown in step 5.

If you were to release the left mouse button at this time, the line would move to the gap rather then extending itself to fill the gap. That maybe useful in some situations but in this particular scenario it is not the desired outcome.

That concludes today’s Quick Tip. I hope you find it information and useful. If you would like to see a quick tip about any other functions in SolidWorks, please feel free to send me an email at blog@theswgeek.com.

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