Sketch symbol appears in inches instead of mm

[wilson.broeksema]

Hello,

I've got a question.

I've created a few sketched symbols and saved it into a Symbol Library. I've created it in a Metric template use metric dimensions in mm.

Later on I opened the Symbol Library.idw to change something to a few symbols. To my surprise I found out that all the sketch dimensions were in Inches!

When I doubleclick on the dimension I still see the metric dimension, but when I change this dimension to another metric value the dimension scales to that value in inches. 

When I create a new drawing and add this sketch symbol from the library and then edit it, it goes the right way using metric dimensions.

To clearify this I added a file where you can see the imperial value and the metric value in the Edit dimension window.

Can anyone help me out? How is this possible?

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Wilson

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Wilson,

Indeed, the behavior does not sound right. Could you share an example file here? It is either a bug or there is a logical reason behind it.

Many thanks!

[SBix26 · Accepted solution]

Seems that the Symbol Library used a .idw inch template rather than metric.  If you explicitly type your altered dimensions in mm, I assume they remain in mm?

Without your symbol library file to look at, I wonder if simply changing the active standard style would take care of the problem?  To find out, change the active standard in Tools > Document Settings to a metric standard and see if that helps.

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Sam B
Inventor Pro 2019.3 | Windows 7 SP1
LinkedIn

[blandb · Accepted solution]

If you are in in an "Inch" based drawing and you type in "10 mm" in a sketch symbol, the item will be made at "10 mm", but since you are in the inch system, it will convert to show you the inch equivalent. If you go to TOOLS> DOCUMENT SETTINGS>STANDARD TAB>ANNOTATIONS>ACTIVE STANDARD and choose a metric based, then the dims show up metric.

Same for when creating a part, you can be in an english part template, but type in metric dims.

Hope that helps

[wilson.broeksema]

Thank you all!

It was indeed an inches-based template.

Kind regards,

Wilson

[Anonymous]

thanks indEED!