What is Color Display Mode?

If you've seen objects such as annotations, dimensions, or hatch patterns, change color in a drawing for no apparent reason, it could be Color Display Mode.

If you are not familiar with what Color Display Mode does in SOLIDWORKS Drawings, you might find yourself witnessing seemingly inexplicable behavior. Let's look at an example of how Color Display Mode can cause confusing behavior.

An Example...

You've been working on a drawing. Most everything in your drawings will usually be black, with a few minor exceptions. Reference (driven) dimensions typically appear gray, by default. The following example shows what the drawing might look like.

Note the example image contains text surrounded by a sketched rectangle. Color Display Mode is turned on, and the sketched rectangle is displayed in it's system color of blue, denoting it is underdefined.

Let's assume the drawing has been completed and needs to be handed off to the checker who will sign off on the drawing and release it to production. When the checker opens the drawing, this is what they see.

The checker is wondering why the draft person has been assigning colors to items when they need to be black. The checker confronts the draft person, who says the drawing looked fine on their computer. The checker confirms the drawing does indeed look fine. So what is causing this?

Color Display Mode

The culprit is a toggle switch known as Color Display Mode. It toggles between showing sketch entities, dimensions, crosshatch and annotations in their system assigned status colors versus showing those same items in their user assigned colors.

The Color Display Mode toggle switch is found on the Line Format toolbar. In the following image, notice the Color Display Mode icon has not been depressed (toggled on). Items will appear with the user applied colors. In this particular case, the rectangle surrounding the text is on a layer with it's color set to orange. The dimensions have had their color changed to green.

In this next image, Color Display Mode has been toggled on. Notice the icon has been activated, and appears darker, or shaded. In this state, system colors of items are displayed. Sketch entities will appear blue if underdefined and black if fully defined. Dimensions will appear black, gray if they are reference or driven dimensions, olive if dangling, and so on.

Altering System Colors

System colors can be changed, but do so at your own risk. System colors are there for a reason. They inform the SOLIDWORKS user that certain conditions apply, such as dangling (detached from geometry), overridden (and possibly not showing the true value), or changed since the drawing was last opened, to name a few.

If you do wish to change the system colors of dimensions, access the System Options tab of the SOLIDWORKS Options (Tools menu > Options) and click the Colors category. Select the dimension type you wish to change the color of, then click the Edit... button and select the desired color.

So What Happened?

When Color Display Mode is turned on, only the system colors appear. Since user defined colors are not shown, it is possible to create items that may be on a layer that has a different color assigned, or create dimensions or some other objects when the default color has been overridden, and never even know you are doing so! In this way, the same drawing can look very different on a coworkers computer, simply because Color Display Mode has been set differently.

The Moral Of The Story

Best practice is to always know what color you are working in, regardless of how Color Display Mode is set. If layers are utilized, make it a point to know what layer you're working on at any given time. If you're in the habit of overriding layer color and assigning colors directly to items, always know what the current color happens to be.