Custom properties are a great way to attach metadata or extra information to your SolidWorks models and drawings quickly. You might already use custom properties that contain descriptions and material information to populate drawing borders. But did you know that there are many more places custom properties can be used? Here are five other ways that you can use custom properties and enhance your SolidWorks skills. One of the most common uses of custom properties is in the drawing title block information. Ideally, a title block should be set up with a series of notes, which are linked automatically to custom properties. This way, when a model is added to a drawing, no further data entry is required. To link a note to an existing custom property. Start by selecting note from the annotations tab, then select Linked Property on the left hand side. From this dialog we can choose from current document properties or model found here properties. Current document properties are those which are saved into the drawing file itself. This might include things like sheet number drawn by and drawn date. Model found here properties can be found if there is already an existing model view on the sheet. We will then be able to see the properties saved from within the parts or assembly environment. This could include model description, material or manufacturing method. We can also combine static text and more than one property in a single note. For example, and automatically linked note to tell us which sheet of the drawing we are on and how many total sheets there are. This can be created by adding a new note and typing sheet. To begin a static text. Then we can press link to property and choose the current sheet SolidWorks property. We would then type of as static text and finally select link to property again to add the Total Sheets property. This note will then update automatically depending on which sheet it is present on. Custom properties are also commonly used when creating bills of materials. By inserting or editing an existing column you can link the column to a custom property to bring through additional information, such as supplier name. The easiest way to standardise custom property creation is by using the property Tab builder. Using dropdown lists and selection options, we can eliminate spelling mistakes and human error when inputting these important properties. Check out our tutorial video here to learn more about how to set this up. a more advanced way that you can use custom properties is to link them to sketch text in a part by using configuration specific properties. This will allow us to create variations of a similar part, but with different sketch text between configurations. To set this up, start by creating a new configuration specific property such as config number by using the Configuration Properties tab. Then create a new sketch on the part and draw some construction geometry to position the sketch text. Select sketch text and then link to property where we can choose the property name. We then confirm the sketch text and select Extruded Boss Base to create some embossed text. Creating some new configurations and changing the text value in the configuration property tab for each will result in different sketch text in boxes for each configuration. Numerical custom properties can also be used in equations to directly drive geometry. For example, a custom property of length can be assigned and then attached to a dimension in the equation manager to link them together. Model changes can then be driven through the custom property manager. Similarly, if a configuration specific property were to be used, such as a width, this could be tied to individual configurations, resulting in different design dimensions before we continue. If you're looking to learn more about creating custom properties and setting up drawing templates, consider attending our three day drawings course. Taking configurations a step further, we can also utilise design tables to configure models using custom properties. If we begin with an existing configured part such as that from the previous tip, the design table generation process will be easier. Using the also Create option, any existing configured properties such as width should automatically be added to the table. If you'd prefer to create a new property and assign values manually, then the syntax you'll need is $PRP@PropertyName This can be added to a new design table column. Design tables themselves are a somewhat advanced topic. You can watch our tutorial video here which goes through all the extra details. If you're struggling to get started. So those are five ways that you can advance your SolidWorks skills with custom properties. Discover more SolidWorks tips, tricks and tutorials around our website and channel, and be sure to let us know what other tutorials you want to see in the future. Explore our website or get in touch via the details on screen to learn how we can help you enhance your design skills, optimise workflows and validate designs effectively.