In the Solid Edge Draft environment, you can track dimensions and annotations that have changed when a drawing view is updated. The Dimension Tracker dialog box reports the changes for you to review and to label.
You can open the Dimension Tracker dialog box at any time by choosing Tools tab→Assistants group→Track Dimension Changes from the menu. However, the contents of the dialog box are updated only when dimensions, annotations, or hole table entries have actually changed.
The Dimension Tracker dialog box is opened automatically when you update a drawing view in which dimensions, annotations, or model-derived table entries have changed.
On the drawing, every changed dimension, annotation, and model-derived table is flagged by a balloon. On the Dimension Tracker dialog box, changed items are listed in columnar format. You can:
Sort the changes by clicking on the column headings: ID, Element, Reason, Previous (Value), Current (Value), and Sheet. Each number in the ID column corresponds to a change balloon number on the drawing. The Element column identifies whether the item is a dimension or an annotation, and what type it is, for example, linear, coordinate, circular diameter, or balloon/callout.
Select one or multiple items and assign a label to the corresponding balloons on the drawing using the New Revision button on the dialog box.
Find a changed item on the drawing by clicking an item listed on the Dimension Tracker. This highlights the dimension or annotation on the drawing view. For complicated drawings, you can locate and zoom in on a changed item using the Find button.
Remove validated items from the change list—and corresponding balloons from the drawing—using the Clear Selected or Clear All buttons.
The Reason column in the Dimension Tracker dialog box explains how a dimension or annotation changed when you updated a drawing view.
Solid Edge was unable to find an eligible geometric element to rebind the item. The item may have been deleted.
The edge of the geometry was not rendered and could not be found.
The model feature changed size.
The terminator connect point was moved. The Annotation Moved Tolerance option on the Options tab of the Dimension Tracker dialog box specifies the distance tolerance beyond which this change is reported.
The item was rebound to the nearest eligible geometric element within a preset distance tolerance.
A change to dimension text or other content not related to value was made to a PMI dimension. Examples of changes that cause the Content Changed reason to be displayed include edits to dimension prefix text, a changed dimension type and tolerance, and the addition of inspection requirements.
To modify the appearance of revision balloons before they are added to the drawing, you can change these settings on the Options tab of the Dimension Tracker dialog box: Balloon Shape, Balloon Color, and Number of Sides (for n-sided balloons). Then, update the drawing view.
To alter the appearance of revision balloons already on the drawing, select the balloon and then select the Properties command on its shortcut menu. You can then edit the balloon annotation properties.
You can use the Copy button on the Dimension Tracker dialog box to copy all the information from the Dimension Tracker list, and then use the Paste command on the shortcut menu to paste the information to another document.
If you assign a label to a changed item and then want to revise it, you can immediately select the Edit→Undo command to restore the item to the Dimension Tracker list and the corresponding balloon to the drawing.