At times when creating drawings of sheet metal parts you may find that the flat-pattern view will not appear flat, but instead as another random view:

This issue is often caused by the flattened configuration not properly being enabled using the flatten tool, but was instead enabled by changing the configuration to the FLAT-PATTERN state. While in this configuration if you un-flatten the sheet metal part it will break the way SOLIDWORKS drawing files views the flatten state. 

Correcting the flatten configuration

Follow the below steps to correct the flat-pattern configuration to properly return to the flatten state

1) Open the part file within SOLIDWORKS

2) Enable the FLAT-PATTERN configuration within the configuration tab (the Flatten tool will likely be un-toggled)

3) If the Flatten tool is un-toggled, re-enable it so the sheet metal returns to its flatten state

4) Toggle back into the Default configuration

5) Open the drawing file and refresh the view pallet to update the flat-pattern view

If the above steps do not correct the issue then the FLAT-PATTERN configuration must be re-made in order for the drawing file to properly create a flat-pattern view within the view pallets.

Creating a new FLAT-PATTERN configuration

1) Within the configuration tab of the feature manager tree right click the parts name and choose "Add Configuration." You can name this configuration whatever you choose since we can rename it in a later step.

2) Enable the new configuration and select the Flatten tool within the sheet metal tab, then refresh the view pallet within the SOLIDWORKS drawing file. This will generate a new FLAT-PATTERN configuration for the part within this configuration.

3) Within the configuration tab of the feature manager tree delete the original default configuration by right clicking the configuration name and choosing delete. You can also re-name the newly created configuration to Default if you choose by modifying the properties of the configuration. 

4) Return to the drawing file of this sheet metal part and refresh the view pallet. The flat-pattern view will return to its flatten state.

If you continue to have difficulties generating a flat-pattern view within the drawing view pallets please contact Hawk Ridge Systems at 877.266.4469 for the U.S or 866.587.6803 for Canada for further troubleshooting and help.