On some occasions arrows are needed in a SOLIDWORKS drawing to point to a detail or highlight a feature. In such instances, some users take advantage of the “Note” command with arrows and leave the text box empty. However, there is not much flexibility with that solution.

Draw Arrows in SOLIDWORKS

In SOLIDWORKS the Multi-jog Leader command allows you to draw arrows with various end shapes. This command can be found from Insert > Annotation > Multi-jog Leader. This command works very similar to the Line command. The default for the command is to continue adding lines until it is selected to end. To end the line you either double-click or righ-click and select end leader. When finished the result is a line with two arrow heads, one on either end. In case you need to have only one arrow head, right-click on one end and change its end shape to Plain Line.

To add more arrows one after another you can do one of the following methods:

• Hit the Enter key to rerun the Multi-jog Leader (last commnad used in SOLIDWORKS);
• Right-click on an empty space and select Recent Commands > Multi-jog Leader;
• Copy and paste similar arrows and adjust their location or length/orientation.

The following image shows a number of arrows drawn in a SOLIDWORKS drawing and their end shapes have been adjusted by right clicking on the end point and selecting from the drop down menu.

Drawing Arrows in SOLIDWORKS

SOLIDWORKS Arrow Applications

The following image shows different shapes that arrows could take in a drawing. The capability of adding these arrows could be used for various applications. A side note or description of a note beside the drawing. Relating a part to its location in an assembly or exploded view. In addition to what was explained about, you can right-click on a leader and select Add New Branch or Add Jog Point to add another branch or readjust the shape of the arrow instead of recreating it.

Different shapes of arrows

SOLIDWORKS Arrow Size Settings

If the size of the arrow head is not serving your purpose, you can change the size of that individual arrow head by right-clicking on the end point of that arrow and selecting the last item “Size…“. The pop up window is shown in the following figure which has the same setting as dimension line settings in Tools > Options.

Adjust Arrow Size