Sketches can be reused between parts in SolidWorks. Sometimes these sketches may be saved as library feature parts for easy insertion, otherwise sketches can be copied from one part to another. There are two fairly similar methods for copying sketches.

Copy Sketch from Design Tree

Browse the design tree and locate the sketch to be copied. Click to select the sketch and press Ctrl+C, this will copy the sketch to the clipboard. Now switch to the part that the sketch is to be pasted into and press Ctrl+V.

In this instance SolidWorks has created “Plane1” for the sketch, if this is correct continue modeling. To place the sketch on the face of the square extrude redefine the sketch plane. Do this by right clicking on the Sketch2 and selecting the “Edit Sketch Plane” option.

Remove plane1 by right clicking and selecting “Clear selections”, proceed to selecting the face to be used as a planar reference. Any origin plane, user defined plane or face of a part can be used.

After defining a new plane, delete sketch1 and edit the sketch to fully define it.

Use this method to copy a single instance of an entire sketch. A separate new sketch is created each time Ctrl+V is pressed.

Copy Sketch Entities between Parts

Select edit sketch to enter the sketch to be copied. Click and drag to highlight the entities to be copied and press Ctrl+C. Move to the destination part, create a sketch and press Ctrl+V.

Add dimensions or relations to fully define the sketch. With this method multiple instances of the selected entities can be copied within the same sketch.