All Ø symbols on my drawings have been replaced with text?

Scenario: I just upgraded SOLIDWORKS and my drawings don’t show the Ø symbol on diameter dimensions any more, see image below.

Reason: The gtol.sym file is missing from its defined file location. To find the currently defined file location open Tools > Options > File Locations and pick Symbol library file from the dropdown list.

Does the path in the Folders list still exist? On Windows and browse to this path. If you cannot see the ProgramData folder check the related blog article explaining how to display it. The folder probably no longer exists if the previous version install was replaced.

Solution: Delete the existing folder path and Add a new path to the folder containing the gtol.sym file. The default for 2015 is C:ProgramDataSolidWorksSOLIDWORKS 2015langenglish

Ok, so now I know how to fix this, but why did it happen in the first place? When upgrading SOLIDWORKS the System Options File locations are not automatically updated to the new folder structure. This is by default. It works this way because if you have all of your Options files on the server they are not replaced with the default files installed with the latest version. The upshot is that from time to time you may come across the odd missing file as SOLIDWORKS is still pointing to the old folder location which has been deleted.