Problem

This article provides troubleshooting steps to diagnose why a flat pattern drawing view is not showing the flattened state in a SOLIDWORKS drawing. In most cases, this happens because the sheet metal part flat pattern configuration is not correctly flattened.

Whenever a user inserts a sheet metal part into a drawing, SOLIDWORKS automatically creates a derived configuration in the part file for the flat pattern. When functioning normally, this derived configuration should have the flat pattern feature unsuppressed in the part’s feature tree; it is easy to accidentally suppress/unflatten it.

Solution

1. Open the part file in question and click the "Configurations" tab

2. Click the dropdown next to the active configuration and double-click to activate the "SM-FLAT-PATTERN" derived configuration.

3. Ensure that the configuration is properly flattened by either clicking the “Flatten” button or manually unsuppressing the Flat-Pattern feature in the feature tree. 

4. Open the drawing and refresh the view palette to update the drawing views

The flat pattern drawing view should now show the correctly flattened part. 

For additional support, existing customers can submit a ticket or new customers can contact Hawk Ridge Systems.