Copy these, run them today. No programming degree required.

By Prasath | ScriptedCAD | https://scriptedcad.com

Every design engineer I know has spent hours doing the same thing in SolidWorks over and over. Export this drawing. Update that title block. Rebuild and save before the release. Again. And again.

Here is the part nobody told you: SolidWorks has a built-in macro recorder and a full API underneath. You can automate almost any repetitive action. Some macros need no code at all. The ones that do need code are 10 to 20 lines of VBA you can copy, paste, and run in under 5 minutes.

These are the 5 macros I wish someone had handed me on day one.

Macro 1: Record and Replay Any Action

This is the entry point. No code. No API knowledge. Just record what you do and play it back.

How to do it:

1. Go to Tools > Macro > Record
2. Perform any action in SolidWorks (apply a view, insert a note, change a display state)
3. Click Stop and save the file as a .swp macro
4. Run it again with Tools > Macro > Run

Real scenario: You apply the same isometric view with shaded-with-edges display every time you send a screenshot to a customer. That is 6 clicks every time. Record it once. Now it is 1 click.

You can assign macros to a toolbar button or keyboard shortcut in Tools > Customize > Toolbars. That turns any recorded sequence into a single key press.

Macro 2: Save the Active Drawing as PDF

Ask any design engineer what they do 10 to 20 times a day. Exporting drawings to PDF is near the top. This macro saves the active drawing as a PDF in the same folder. No dialog boxes. No clicking through the save menu.

Sub SaveAsPDF()
    Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
    Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
    Dim sFilePath As String
    Dim errors As Long
    Dim warnings As Long

    Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
    Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc

    If swModel Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox "No active document found."
        Exit Sub
    End If

    sFilePath = Left(swModel.GetPathName, Len(swModel.GetPathName) - 7) & ".pdf"
    swModel.Extension.SaveAs sFilePath, 0, 0, Nothing, errors, warnings

    MsgBox "Saved: " & sFilePath
End Sub

To use this: go to Tools > Macro > New, paste the code, save it. Then assign it to a keyboard shortcut in Tools > Customize. One key press and the PDF is done.

Macro 3: Update Custom Properties on a Part

Title blocks pull their data from custom properties: part number, description, revision, material. If you are filling these in manually on every file you open, you are losing 5 to 10 minutes per part.

This macro sets the three most common properties on the active document in one run. Change the values in the code to match your part before running.

Sub UpdateCustomProperties()
    Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
    Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
    Dim swCustPropMgr As SldWorks.CustomPropertyManager

    Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
    Set swModel = swApp.ActiveDoc
    Set swCustPropMgr = swModel.Extension.CustomPropertyManager("")

    swCustPropMgr.Add3 "PartNo", swCustomInfoText, "PN-001", swCustomPropertyReplaceValue
    swCustPropMgr.Add3 "Description", swCustomInfoText, "Bracket Assembly", swCustomPropertyReplaceValue
    swCustPropMgr.Add3 "Revision", swCustomInfoText, "A", swCustomPropertyReplaceValue

    MsgBox "Custom properties updated."
End Sub

Macro 4: Batch Export All Drawings in a Folder to PDF

The single-file PDF macro is useful. But what happens when you need to export 50 drawings before a review meeting that starts in 30 minutes?

This macro opens every .SLDDRW file in a folder you specify, exports it as PDF, and closes it. What used to take 30 to 40 minutes of clicking now runs in the background while you prepare your slides.

Sub BatchExportToPDF()
    Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
    Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
    Dim sFolder As String
    Dim sFile As String
    Dim sPDFPath As String
    Dim errors As Long
    Dim warnings As Long

    Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
    sFolder = "C:\Drawings\"  ' Change this to your drawings folder path

    sFile = Dir(sFolder & "*.SLDDRW")

    Do While sFile <> ""
        Set swModel = swApp.OpenDoc6(sFolder & sFile, swDocDRAWING, swOpenDocOptions_Silent, "", errors, warnings)
        sPDFPath = sFolder & Left(sFile, Len(sFile) - 7) & ".pdf"
        swModel.Extension.SaveAs sPDFPath, 0, 0, Nothing, errors, warnings
        swApp.CloseDoc swModel.GetPathName
        sFile = Dir
    Loop

    MsgBox "Batch export complete."
End Sub

Macro 5: Rebuild All Open Documents and Save

Before releasing any files, every open document should be force-rebuilt and saved. Most engineers skip this or forget. Stale models cause problems downstream: wrong dimensions in drawings, incorrect BOMs, failed exports, errors in assemblies.

This macro loops through every open document in SolidWorks, forces a full rebuild, and saves it.

Sub RebuildAndSaveAll()
    Dim swApp As SldWorks.SldWorks
    Dim swModel As SldWorks.ModelDoc2
    Dim errors As Long
    Dim warnings As Long

    Set swApp = Application.SldWorks
    Set swModel = swApp.GetFirstDocument

    Do While Not swModel Is Nothing
        swModel.ForceRebuild3 False
        swModel.Save3 swSaveAsCurrentVersion, errors, warnings
        Set swModel = swModel.GetNext
    Loop

    MsgBox "All documents rebuilt and saved."
End Sub

What These 5 Macros Actually Prove

Task automation is the entry level. Repetitive actions become one click. Hours become minutes. That is real value and you can start delivering it today.

But the same API that powers these macros also powers things at a completely different scale:

• Product configurators that generate complete models and drawing packages from customer inputs
• Automated quoting systems that replace 3 days of manual work with a 20-minute process
• Drawing QA checkers that audit every sheet before release and flag errors automatically
• Design validation tools that check manufacturing constraints before the file ever leaves CAD

The engineers who build those tools are not senior developers. They are design engineers who started exactly where you are right now: with a simple macro they copied and ran for the first time.

What To Do Next

Pick one macro from this guide. Open SolidWorks. Go to Tools > Macro > New. Paste the code. Run it on a test file.

That first run is the moment everything changes. You will see SolidWorks do something you used to do by hand, and you will understand why engineers who learn this never go back.