Exploded Views in SolidWorks: How to Build One That Works

Ken Maren

PUBLISHED

May 30, 2025

LAST UPDATED

August 31, 2026

READ TIME

6 min

Build an exploded view that reads as a build order, reuse it in your drawings, and send the assembly to anyone who needs to see it without a CAD seat.

You can show a whole assembly the way it actually goes together — every component pulled out along its own axis, in the order a technician installs it — and then reuse that same view in a drawing, a build manual, or a message to someone who has never opened CAD. In SOLIDWORKS® 3D CAD an exploded view is stored as part of a configuration, so it travels with the assembly and stays available every time you open the file.

This guide covers building explode steps, adding explode lines, dropping the exploded configuration into a drawing, animating it, and the handful of things that usually make one hard to read.

Sibe is a collaboration-first CAD Document Management platform with a native SolidWorks add-in. Assemblies you explode this way check in and out directly in SolidWorks, and Sibe tracks every version as you go — so the exploded configuration you built last month is still there when the design moves on.

What an exploded view is

An exploded view spaces components out from their assembled positions so the fit and the build order are visible at a glance. The parts do not move in the assembly itself — SolidWorks stores the offsets as explode steps inside a configuration, and you collapse back to the assembled state whenever you want.

Engineers reach for one in three places: assembly and service drawings, build instructions for the shop floor, and design discussions with people who do not run CAD.

How to create an exploded view in SolidWorks

Open the assembly you want to explode, and make sure the configuration you want the explode to live in is the active one.
Switch to the ConfigurationManager tab, right-click the active configuration, and select New Exploded View. You can also run it from Insert → Exploded View.
Click into the Explode Steps box in the PropertyManager and select one or more components. A triad appears on the selection.
Drag a triad arm to pull the components out along that axis, or type an exact distance in the PropertyManager. Drag a triad ring instead if the step needs a rotation as well as a translation.
Click Done and start the next step. Keep one step per direction — mixing two directions into one step makes the animation read badly later.
Click OK. The exploded view appears under the configuration in the ConfigurationManager, and you collapse or explode it by right-clicking the configuration.

Explode steps are listed in the order you created them, and that order drives the animation. Drag steps up or down the list to change the sequence, rename them so a colleague can tell what each one does, and double-click a step to edit its distance or its component selection.

Exploding a subassembly

By default a subassembly moves as one block. To explode its internals in the parent assembly, select the subassembly in the Explode Steps box and turn on Select subassembly parts. If the subassembly already has its own exploded view, use Reuse Subassembly Explode instead — the parent picks up the steps you already built rather than duplicating the work.

Radial and auto-space steps

For a hub of parts arranged around an axis — bolt circles, cover screws, connectors on a face — set the step type to Radial Step and the components fan outward together. For a stack of similar parts on one axis, select them all and use auto-spacing to distribute them evenly rather than placing each one by hand.

Adding explode lines

Explode lines draw the path each component travels back to its seat, and they are what turns a scattered picture into a readable instruction.

With the view exploded, run Insert → Explode Line Sketch. SolidWorks opens a 3D sketch.
Pick the Route Line tool and select a face, edge, or circular feature on each of the two components you want to connect.
Use the alternate path option or drag the route handles when the default line crosses other geometry.
Close the 3D sketch. The lines live inside the configuration and show up in drawing views of it.

Jog a route line rather than letting it run straight through a housing. A line that passes behind solid geometry reads as an error to whoever is holding the printout.

Using an exploded view in a drawing

Create a new drawing from the assembly.
Insert a model view and pick the configuration that holds the exploded view.
In the view's PropertyManager, tick Show in exploded or model break state.
Add a balloon or auto-balloon pass, then insert the BOM so the item numbers on the balloons match the parts list.

Exploded drawing views carry the explode lines with them, which is why the line work is worth doing in the model rather than sketching it on the sheet. Keep the exploded view on its own sheet if the assembly is large — a cramped exploded view is worse than no exploded view.

Animating the explode

Right-click the configuration and choose Animate explode to play the steps in order, or Animate collapse to run them backwards. The player gives you speed control and a record button, so you can save the sequence as an AVI for a build video without touching the Motion Study tools.

This is also the fastest way to sanity-check step order. If the animation shows a cover lifting before the screws holding it, reorder the steps until the sequence matches how the unit is actually taken apart.

Tips for a cleaner exploded view

Pull each component along the axis it installs on, so the picture doubles as the build order
Group fasteners — bolt, washer, nut together in one step rather than three
Leave more space than looks necessary; overlap is what makes an exploded view unreadable in print
Name every step, and name the configuration something like "Exploded – Service" so the next engineer knows what it is for
Add explode lines for anything whose seat is not obvious from the offset alone
Check the view at final print scale before you commit to it

Common problems and fixes

The drawing view will not explode

The drawing view is pointing at a configuration that has no exploded view, or Show in exploded or model break state is off. Check the configuration name in the view properties first.

A component refuses to move

Fixed components stay put. Float the component, or explode the part it is fixed to instead. A component that is a child of a subassembly also stays put until Select subassembly parts is on.

Explode lines disappear after an edit

Route lines reference specific faces and edges. Rename or resurface those and the line loses its anchor. Reopen the explode line sketch and re-pick the reference rather than deleting and starting over.

The exploded view is gone after someone else opens the file

Exploded views belong to a configuration. If the person opening the file lands on a different configuration, they see the assembled state. Set the exploded configuration as the last-saved active one, or tell them which configuration to switch to.

Where Sibe fits

Sibe is a collaboration-first CAD Document Management platform with a native SolidWorks add-in. You check parts, assemblies and drawings in and out directly in SolidWorks, and Sibe tracks every version and revision as you go, so an exploded configuration built for one release is still there when you need it for the next one.

When someone outside engineering needs to see the assembly — a client, a production lead, a technician on the floor — send a free public share link or a QR code. They open the model in any browser, spin it, and leave comments pinned to the geometry. No Sibe account, no viewer install. Assembly references resolve automatically, including parts shared across projects, so the assembly opens complete for whoever receives it.