Actually, this is a regression in behavior. In SOLIDWORKS 2016, the menu for the middle case (measure tool open, but inactive) is the same as the last case (measure dialog closed). It should work like SOLIDWORKS 2016 since the goal is for users to be able to leave the measure dialog open but inactive and still use the rest of the system normally. Users often do this if they want to leave the measure dialog open on another monitor to refer to values between documents or if they just use it often.
Charles, this is logged as SPR#994828. You can go to the Knowledge Base in the customer portal and search for 994828 and use the option to be notified on the left hand side, or contact your reseller and ask to be logged against this SPR. This link may also go directly to it in the KB:
https://customerportal.solidworks.com/eservice_enu/start.swe?SWECmd=InvokeMethod&SWEMethod=GotoRecord&SWEService=SWGotoR…
Note that the description in the KB is not exactly your case; it is a more specific case. But, I have updated it internally to be more generic and list the various cases when it happens. The more generic description should make it to the KB after some amount of time.
UPDATE 1-31-2017: This SPR is fixed in SOLIDWORKS 2017 SP02 which is currently available as early visibility.
Thanks,
Jim
Jan 31, 2017 11:17 AM