Drawing Dimension does not display any dimension symbols

Dimensions within SOLIDWORKS utilize their own syntax in the Dimension’s Dimension Text that governs their operational and display behavior. Dimension syntax controls how a Smart Dimension references a certain feature or displays a symbol and in order to do this, SOLIDWORKS calls upon multiple different reference files to interpret the Dimension Text correctly. This is especially prevalent in SOLIDWORKS Drawings, since drawing files are generally the most heavily annotated files in SOLIDWORKS.

We can see the relationship between the Dimension Text and the graphical display of the Dimension syntax. Here, the <MOD-DIAM> command is used to bring up the diameter symbol indicated.

Sometimes, especially during updates or new installs, these symbols may fail to display correctly:

Sometimes you will also see an error about the GTOL.SYM going missing:

Instead of reading and interpreting the Dimension syntax correctly to produce the desired symbols, SOLIDWORKS simply displays the text itself. This can happen if the Symbol Library is corrupted or missing from the file location.

To fix this, please follow the following steps:

1. Check your SOLIDWORKS Symbol Library File Location:

2. If the entry under the “Symbol Library File” File Location is empty, the default directory is: “C:\ProgramData\Solidworks\Solidworks 20XX\lang\english”
3. Navigate to the directory listed above and ensure that the file named “gtol.sym” exists. If this file does NOT exist, please perform a repair on your installation of SOLIDWORKS. it maybe also located in a parallel folder that can be copied/pasted.

4. Once you have verified the existence of the “gtol.sym” file, ensure that your SOLIDWORKS  is pointing to the correct directory under the File Locations category in your System Options.

5. Once you’ve verified that SOLIDWORKS is pointing to the correct directory, all missing symbols should be automatically corrected. If they do not automatically correct themselves, you may have to recreate the affected dimensions or hole callouts.
6. If your Dimension Text still does not display symbols correctly, this could be an indication of a corruption in your “gtol.sym”. Please run a repair of your installation of SOLIDWORKS.