It’s October, so it’s time to continue with our What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2023 blog series! Today, I’m going to walk through my domain of SOLIDWORKS – data management. I’ll let Joe Frank handle Manage, so today, I’m going to talk about What’s New in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023. There are several great enhancements that make life easier for administrators, the vault easier to navigate for users, and some other fantastic quality-of-life improvements.  You can watch this content in video format as well:

Let’s kick this off by talking about our login process for the administration tool.

Automatic login to the admin tool

Starting off with our What’s New in PDM trip, I’ll give the administrators a little love. Not every administrator sits around working in the admin tool all day long. Most are everyday engineers that occasionally go behind the scenes and make changes. A small headache every admin deals with is that logging into the vault view doesn’t log you into the Administration tool. Well, new in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023, we have auto-login and it’s configurable! For PDM, you can automatically log in as the active Windows user (Active Directory, PDM Professional only) or set the tool to log in as a specific user. It removes a step for any administrator that just needs to make a simple change. Who doesn’t love that?

Control Logic Indicator

Control logic is a great way to augment your data cards. They let you create conditions for how PDM populates values and gives you ultimate control. But it’s not always clear where you’re using it. For example, in PDM 2022, I could have control logic setup on 4 fields on my card. However, I have no way of knowing that without writing it down somewhere. New in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023 though, we see indicators on our data card, showing which controls use control logic and which ones do not. This is immensely helpful for environments with multiple administrators or if you aren’t regularly modifying your cards. Now you have clear notes about which controls use logic and which ones do not.

Tooltips for data cards

I’ve talked about being a DriveWorks Professional more than once. I think it’s an amazing tool that anybody can use. One of the things that I like the most about the user interface is the tooltips. Tooltips are basically mini-instructions to help you find your way. They tell you how fields should populate and let you understand your environment. But I’m not here to talk about DriveWorks.

Nope, all of that was a setup because now SOLIDWORKS PDM offers the same thing! For all the same reasons, tooltips are a welcome enhancement in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023. Now when you fill in your data cards, you can be confident that the information you type is exactly what it’s supposed to be. No more cleanup later for the administrators! (Okay, maybe a little bit, but hopefully less now).

File retrieval log

I’ve been wondering when we would see this one! SOLIDWORKS PDM is a great tool for managing which users have access to files. However, we’ve never had a native SOLIDWORKS PDM tool that tracks which users are retrieving files. Sure, we have tools like CacheMeter to help with this, but it would be nice to at least monitor these actions in the PDM interface. Now we can! With the file retrieval log on the PDM server, we can easily see which users retrieve which files, the pinged archive server, and the client machine IP address.

Encrypted file traffic between archive server and client

Speaking of file security, one of the biggest questions I’m asked with SOLIDWORKS PDM revolves around file encryption. Prior to 2023, you could encrypt traffic between the SQL Server and Client machines, but not between the archive server and clients. Now, SOLIDWORKS PDM encrypts file traffic between the archive server and the client machines, further protecting your intellectual property.

Windows 11 support

You know that blue dot in your system tray that you’ve been avoiding? Yeah, that one that says you can upgrade to Windows 11… Well, I have some great news! SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023 officially supports Windows 11, so no more worrying about when you can upgrade and finally get rid of that notification. While this technically started in 2022’s later service packs, 2023 is the first full version to support Windows 11. Get excited because now you can learn that brand-new operating system!

What’s New in 2023 Wrap-Up

The SOLIDWORKS PDM 2023 release has several enhancements that we’ve been waiting for. I think my favorite one is the file retrieval log, but any of these would be an excellent choice. Everyone from the PDM administrator down to the PDM newbie is going to have an easier time working in the PDM vault. On top of the useability enhancements, the file security improvements ensure that everyone has a secure vault.

Enjoy your newest release PDM junkies! I can’t wait to see what we have in store next year!

I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2023. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2023. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”

Nick Sweeney

Marketing Communications Specialist & Data Management Expert

Computer Aided Technology

What is Design Innovation Month?

DESIGN INNOVATION MONTH 2022 – Live Events, Webinars, Virtual Showroom, Contests

Design Innovation Month is CATI’s “What’s New in 2023” event for SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, and 3D Printing & 3D Scanning technology. This year we’re going back to the future to bring you in-person events, live and on-demand webinars, demonstrations, in-depth blog posts, and prizes! Best of all, it’s free of charge! Check the DI Month Hub for all the details and to sign up for your nearest live event.

If you already have SOLIDWORKS installed:

1. Open Control Panel (you can search “Control Panel” from your Start menu).
2. Go to “Programs and Features”.

3. Scroll down to “SOLIDWORKS 20XX SP0X” and select “change”.

4. The SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager will pop up. If you receive a warning about a pending Windows reboot, you can hit “ok” and continue through. Reboot when done installing.
5. Select “Modify your installation” and hit Next.

6. Your Serial Number should already be pre-filled on this page. You can leave everything as-is and hit Next.

7. On the Product Selection page, check “PDM Client” and hit Next.

8. On the Summary page, hit “Change” next to “SOLIDWORKS PDM Options”.

9. Make the following selections
   • PDM Professional or Standard (if unsure, you can safely select Professional, since this will work for clients with both Professional and Standard licenses)
   • Select the appropriate license level: Editor, Contributor, or Viewer.
     • If Editor is selected, be sure to select Add-ins for the software you have installed.
     • If you’re unsure, reach out to your administrator or select “CAD Editor” and confirm after, since license type can be changed easily later.

10. From the Summary page, accept the terms and select “Modify Now”.

11. After installing, a reboot is recommended to ensure the installation is allowed to complete fully. You should now have the PDM client installed on your workstation while retaining your original SOLIDWORKS client and any menu customization you may have made.

If you need SOLIDWORKS & PDM:

1. Navigate to http://customerportal.solidworks.com and log in with your account.

2. If you do not have an account, select Create a SOLIDWORKS ID and register using your serial number. Once logged in, select Downloads and Updates.

3. Select the year and service pack you wish to install, accept the agreement, and download the setup.

Note: This download is the setup file only so there will be additional downloading when installing the client.

4. Run “SolidWorksSetup.exe” & choose to Unzip.

5. When that finishes, the Installation Manager should start automatically. Select “Install on this computer” & hit Next. If you get a pop up stating a reboot is pending, feel free to ignore it and hit “ok” to continue.

6. If you previously installed SOLIDWORKS, your serial number should be pre-filled. If not, be sure to enter it in the box next to SOLIDWORKS. Expand and select any other design software you’d like to install on your machine here (like Visualize or Simulation – PDM comes later). Hit Next.

7. You will either be taken to a Product Selection page, or to the Summary page. If you get to the Summary page, select “Change” next to “Products”.

8. On the Product Selection page, check the “SOLIDWORKS PDM Client” box. When done, select “Back to Summary”

9. Select Change next to SOLIDWORKS PDM Options (you may need to scroll down).

10. Make the following selections:
    • PDM Professional or Standard (if unsure, you can safely select Professional, since this will work for clients with both Professional and Standard licenses)
    • Select the appropriate license level: Editor, Contributor, or Viewer.
      • If Editor is selected, be sure to select Add-ins for the software you have installed.
      • If you’re unsure, reach out to your administrator or select “CAD Editor” and confirm after, since license type can be changed easily later.

11. Finally, return to the Summary page and select Install Now. You may be prompted for a license server that should be entered in the format 25734@<server name>.
    1. If you’re unsure of your license server, reach out to your administrator.

Creating a Vault View:

1. Open your Windows Start menu, find the SOLIDWORKS PDM folder, and select View Setup.
2. Select Next > to bypass the Welcome screen.
3. In the next screen, your server name may show in the white window.
   • If it does, select it.
   • If it does not, select the Add button at the bottom of the menu to manually add it.
4. Once the server is added, check the box to the left of the server name and select Next >.

5. Check the box next to the vault you would like to add a vault view for and select Next >.
   1. If it is grayed out, try following the troubleshooting steps according to the error messages listed in this related article.
6. Set the file location. It is strongly recommended that all users put it in the root of the C or data drive.
7. Finally, select the option to create the view “For all users on this computer”, if available. Select Next > and then Finish.

Note: Only for me should only be selected if the user does not have administrative rights on their machine. It will become apparent if the vault view fails to complete. In this case, users must place the vault view in their Documents folder or a folder created on the C: drive and select the Only for me option.

Rowan Gray
PLM Support Team Lead
Computer Aided Technology

The first addition is that there is a new flyout on the right side of the Feature Manager Tree that can be enabled to show columns with 3DEXPERIENCE data management information.  This is the same place for a long while that you have been able to see visualization information, but now there is a 2^nd tab named Lifecycle & Collaboration.  The columns included are STATUS (not saved, equal to, newer than, etc), LOCK STATUS, REVISION, and IS LATEST REVISION.

A nice enhancement in the Feature Manager Tree flyout is that you will see a green checkmark if you DO have the latest revision and a red “X” if you do NOT.  This is better than the “blank” or “+” sign used in the task pane interface in my opinion.

There is also new sub menu when you RT+CLK a part from the Feature Tree for “Lifecycle And Collaboration” tools to get access to some common functionality for data management.

A new standalone TOOLBAR titled “Lifecycle And Collaboration” that is available to turn on/off that contains the same tools as the RT+CLK menu.

Even better than that, there is a new TAB that can be enabled on the Command Manager for “Lifecycle And Collaboration” to get to these tools.

This tab has to be “added” to your Command Manager the first time, then can be turned on/off like the other tabs you have.

If you can’t remember how to add a tab to your Command Manager (I never can), here is a quick reminder…

One thing I did notice on the free standing toolbar and on the Command Manager tab was that 2 of the new related commands were not showing on them by default.  I had to customize and manually add the buttons/commands for “Share as Picture” and “Share as 3D” to both of these.  Those commands are listed under a new section called “Lifecycle and Collaboration” of the Customize—Commands window.

These new interface enhancements obviously don’t eliminate the need for all of the 3DEXPERIENCE tools in the Task Pane, but does get some of the most commonly needed information right over in your Feature Manager for easy access, as well as faster ways to get to some of the commands you need. Sometimes your 3DEXPERIENCE Task Pane is filled with other info like search results, or Relations, etc. and it is nice to be able to see all this info at the same time.

This functionality is available to customers using desktop SOLIDWORKS with the Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS add in OR using a seat of 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS.  You just need to update to SOLIDWORKS SP02.

Randy Simmons
Sr. Application Engineer, Strategic Solutions
Computer Aided Technology

The point is, “cost of doing business” isn’t a constant, it’s a variable. Today, most people store their files on their desktop or a local server, but more and more companies are moving to the cloud. This wave is shifting the paradigm once again, and the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform is leading the charge. By offering companies flexible data management, it becomes easier to get what you need, while staying ahead of the curve.

What Is the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform?

We’ve covered this on other pages, but simply put, the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform is another way of storing, managing, and sharing your data. It’s a cloud-based environment, meaning you don’t have to buy or maintain any pesky servers. It also means you can access your data from anywhere, at any time.

This is powerful! It also gives businesses more flexibility with how they work and how they license each employee.

Easy Access from Anywhere with 3DEXPERIENCE

Flexible business is the name of the game. For the past two years, we’ve all worked remotely, only emphasizing its importance. The 3DEXPERIENCE Platform enables flexible data management with global access to the data you need from any device. What’s more, you don’t even need a VPN.

One of the core complaints I get when talking about an on-premises data management solution, like SOLIDWORKS PDM, is access for multiple locations. PDM Standard doesn’t allow for replication, and even Professional requires some kind of connection between the locations. Typically, this takes the form of a VPN, but IT doesn’t love setting them up. For one, they aren’t as fast as a local network. Those remote workers are farther away, so it takes longer to get the data they need. They also aren’t as secure. VPN provides another access point that someone could try to exploit. Nobody wants that, so IT is right to be wary.

Licensing Gives You Flexible Data Management

Do you do the exact same work as the person sitting next door? Probably not, right? Then it doesn’t make sense that each of you would have the same licenses. Think about it, you may be creating a bill of material for an order. The person next door might be working with filling out change request forms. In PDM, that’s a contributor, but now I have to manage them in separate groups. We can share a license, but it’s more work on the administrator than it should be.

With the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, there’s no need to worry about groups for users. Now, we have licenses for every kind of task that you want to do. Of course, SOLIDWORKS and CATIA CAD is front of mind for most engineers, but we have options for rendering, structural analysis, NC programming, advanced PLM, and so much more. By letting everyone get the license they need for their specific tasks, there’s no more worrying about having enough licenses and wondering if you have what you need to do your job. Now, everyone accesses the Platform through the same location and goes on their way.

The Shift Is Happening

No, on-premises data management isn’t going to go away anytime soon. Many businesses have too much invested in the hardware, and some are cautious about moving data to a location that isn’t 35 feet away from your feet. However, the shift is happening. Every day, I talk with customers about how they manage their data, and a cloud-based solution always comes up.

The shifting paradigm from mostly on-premises to a cloud environment opens a world of possibilities for flexible data management. The added geographical flexibility is key when employees aren’t always in the same place. This makes collaboration and general data sharing easy and secure. Additionally, “only what you need” licensing means everybody gets what they need to do their job; no more, no less. By embracing the changing environment, we can get ahead and be more productive, while our competition is stuck wandering the isles of the nearest Blockbuster.

Cloud PDM Changes the Game!

…and 3DEXPERIENCE, from the makers of SOLIDWORKS, is here to make it happen.  Learn more about the how and why of cloud PDM here.

Explore Cloud PDM Today

Nick Sweeney
PLM Applications Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

Let’s try it!

Create a new vault.

But this time pick “default”.

Now, select all the options to load into the vault, but maybe this time, let’s focus on tasks. Back in 2017 SOLIDWORKS PDM started offering a couple of nice new tasks.

After completion, open up your admin tool and look down at the tasks node.

Look at all those out of the box PDM tasks!

Convert Task

For most of us, we already have the “convert” task to make us a SLDDRW to PDF. That is probably the lowest hanging fruit, as I say, that just about all customers need. Whether you run it manually or you call for the task in a transition, a PDF task for drawings relieves everyone of a very redundant chore is a pretty fast way to get some ROI out of SOLIDWORKS PDM.

Don’t forget that in the “Convert” task can also be used to make numerous other file types, and have some pretty strong abilities for a secondary write location.

In short, this task can create 22 file types, and control the execution method. It can even pull attributes from the source file, as well as have a unique output filename including any variable from the source file applied to the output file path and or name. Don’t be shy to study it’s strengths, even if you have this task already configured and deployed.

Additional Convert Tasks

Once you have the Convert task under control, the next two tasks really start to make sense. They are “DraftSight to PDF” and “Office to PDF”. Just as their names imply, they are for converting more file types to PDF.

Both of these tasks have a VERY SIMILAR look and feel to the convert task. One can quickly setup examples of exporting those DWG and MS Office filetypes to PDF in short order. Be mindful that You will need Draftsight Professional or higher to utilize its respective convert tool.

Print Task

Now let’s shift gears a bit, and talk to the Print task.

Very similar to the PDF tasks, the print task is pretty cool too! It simply gives you the ability to print files straight to a local or network printer. It can even print a whole packet of drawings so you don’t have to do things one at a time! Setup is straightforward enough, but the help file is always, well, a help!

If you want more out of your print task, be sure to reach out to us, or your local VAR. You’ll need some programming skills, but there are customizations in the “Advanced Scripting Options” that further enhance the print task function.

Design Checker Task

Now it is time to really shift gears for our final out of the box PDM task! Let’s leave behind the PDF and print tasks for a bit and delve into the Design Checker.

The Design Checker is a pretty cool tool that MANY customers just simply, do not take advantage of!

Imagine having a SOLIDWORKS standard for a given document type, maybe we already have part, assembly and drawings templates deployed. Maybe inside those we utilize some ISO or ANSI, or maybe some modified standards unique to how we do business with respect to our CAD files. The design Checker can help us verify we follow said standards by watching areas like, title blocks, custom properties, annotations, units, materials, overridden dimensions, just to name a few.

Setting Up The Design Checker Task

This task, although simple to deploy in SOLIDWORKS PDM, will require some upfront time. The Design Checker needs some standard to review against. You, as the organization, must then create those standards for the Design Checker. Most customers will create standards files for their parts assemblies and drawings. That then drives the Design Checker via a .swstd file.

We create a standards file in SOLIDWORKS Design Checker. It can be a bit confusing to find the command, but it’s in the evaluate tab under called “Build Checks”.

Once the tool launches, simply select “Create a New Standards File”.

From there you will have a litany of standards to define for your given needs:

Once you have completed setting your standards, save the standards file.

Now “back at the ranch” – ok, over in the PDM Design Checker Task,

When we run the task on a given file we will want to select the appropriate standards file to check it against.

At the end of the day, hopefully you will see that there is an awful lot that SOLIDWORKS PDM has to offer. Go explore, create that sandbox test environment, and take a look for yourself.

Implementing a full list of tasks is a fun way to explore. Feel free to set up a sandbox environment and try out several of these and see where they apply for you. But, when it comes time to set these up in your production environment, don’t hesitate to reach out to CATI for some help!

Joe Frank
PLM Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

#5 – Share SOLIDWORKS Manage BOMs (Send Email and Copy Link)

Collaboration with external users can be a major hurdle for any business. But new with SOLIDWORKS Manage 2022, we can now share BOMs via a web page link or email message. These links allow users that might not have direct access to the system, to interact with bill of materials inside our SOLIDWORKS Manage environment. Sharing honors applied filters and you can edit reference columns as well. However, what do we do about security? Well, additional security options are available to allow or restrict editing, enable password protection (which can be auto generated), and set an expiration date on the link.

#4 Microsoft Office Integration

With the 2022 release, we gain additional integration to our favorite Microsoft Office applications. Now, we have integrations for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. What this does is it enables users working with office documentation to use SOLIDWORKS Manage controls, right from the Office apps. Now, there’s no need to leave Word, PowerPoint, or Excel when working with documents and SOLIDWORKS PDM objects. Notice, that many of the common SOLIDWORKS Manage commands can be found right in the Microsoft ribbon. Additionally, this integration lets you add links for the active document or another document/record.

#3 Custom HTML Notifications

SOLIDWORKS Manage 2022 introduces a convenient new way to access, share, and document your designs. New for this release is the ability to create HTML formatted notifications for Project and Process Task Notifications. Administrators can customize these notifications to highlight key information for end users. Also, new to this release is the ability to incorporate web links within the notifications. These weblinks allow users to easily access the record by using the Manage Web Portal.

#2 Weblinks within Dashboards

In addition to hyperlinks in notifications and sharable BOMs, weblinks can also be created Ad Hoc. These versatile links provide quick and easy access to records in the web portal. But the flexibility doesn’t stop there. With the 2022 release, SOLIDWORKS Manage Dashboards can also take advantage of the new weblink capabilities, making it easy for users like project managers, to access key projects while on the road.

#1 Add Manage BOM to SOLIDWORKS Drawings

This next enhancement is by far my favorite feature on the list. Now, it’s possible to add a bill of material table from a files’ linked record, directly into a SOLIDWORKS drawing. The options allow us to use BOM variants and templates defined in the linked record object. If multiple linked records are associated to a file, the user can choose which linked records is used.

There are additional enhancements to top-down bill material design within the Manage Add-in for SOLIDWORKS users. With them, items that you’ve manually added to a Manage BOM, will show up in SOLIDWORKS. Additionally, files now show up in a dedicated Tab called “Manually Added Files”. Once you open the CAD assembly in SOLIDWORKS, you can easily place items directly from the SOLIDWORKS Manage add-in.

Want more info about SOLIDWORKS Manage or SOLIDWORKS PDM? Give us a call or contact your account manager today!

I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2022. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2022. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”

Michael King
PLM Solutions Architect
Computer Aided Technology

What is Design Innovation Month?

DESIGN INNOVATION MONTH 2021 – Live Events, Webinars, Virtual Showroom, Contests
Design Innovation Month is CATI’s massive “What’s New in 2022” event for SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, and 3D printing & 3D scanning technology.  That’s six weeks of in-person events, live and on-demand webinars, demonstrations, in-depth blog posts, and prizes!  Best of all, it’s free of charge!  Check the DI Month Hub for all the details and to sign up for your nearest live event. 

I think most people put this off with the usual excuses of I got a new machine, I’ve never lost a hard drive before, etc… Well, 2 weeks ago this caught up to me and I lost my primary hard drive along with all files on it, or so I thought… see the end of the article for the detail on this.

In talking with several people in the office I learned a few things:

First, back up your data – and this can either be done with a Data Management System or with the tools in Windows. If you are going to use the backup tools in Windows make sure to use a secondary hard drive either internal or external. There are different settings for the different versions of Windows and below is information from the settings in each version.

• For Windows7 – The tool is a little lack luster and does not have a lot of options.

  The tool is found in the Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore. Select the Set up backup. In the options, you have the ability to choose what to back up, where to back it up to and how often you want it backed up.

  

  

  

• For Windows8 – The tool is now called File History and is a little easier to use and has more options.

  The tool is found in the Control Panel > System and Security > File History. Select the option to Turn On and check out each of the links in the left hand column to get it set for your needs.

  

• For Windows10 – The options are the same, but it gives you a new interface to work with. If you select the Advanced Options it brings you to the same screen as Windows8 (shown above).

  The tool is found in Settings > Updates and Security > Backup, select the more options to change the main settings (see below).

  

Now, for the other part of this article is what happened to the files that I thought I lost. Working with one of the CATI Senior Applications Engineers, Bob McGaughey, we tried several different options. At first, we could not find any way to recover the data. Our last ditch effort was trying a freeware program called TestDisk. Below are a few links.

• (About the program) http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk
• (Link to download the program) http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Download
• (Instructions on how to use it) http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk_Step_By_Step

Ultimately, the TestDisk program was not only ably to recover just a few of my files but all 132,386 Files and 7,976 Folders totaling almost 300GB.

I hope this article helps to remind everyone of the importance of backing up your files – a simple tool that is available for everyone.

Josh Altergott

Support Manager

Computer Aided Technology

SOLIDWORKS Electrical PDM connector

It is very easy to get your SOLIDWORKS Electrical data into your SOLIDWORKS PDM Vault to gain control and use workflows for your data. The SOLIDWORKS Electrical PDM connector tool is available for use in the application.

The users of SOLIDWORKS Electrical will also see a new tab added to their ribbon menu named SOLIDWORKS PDM that will give them functions to operate with PDM.

The integration tool will be an add-in to the specified PDM vault

Configuring the PDM Connector

You can configure the SOLIDWORKS Electrical PDM connector by opening the PDM administration and logging into the vault. From here, you will go to Add-ins and right-click on the connector and select the SOLIDWORKS Electrical Integration Administration option.

The SOLIDWORKS Electrical Integration Administration window has three tabs named General settings, BOM settings, and File structure. General settings define the configuration for the most important system values and BOM settings define the settings for handling Bills Of Materials. File structure defines the configuration for file and folder names in SOLIDWORKS PDM and the mapping rules for the attributes going to PDM Variables.

When an electrical project is first checked into the PDM vault, each project book gets a folder with individual copies of each schematic. Within this folder, you will have a folder containing the project’s individual schematics in .dwg format if you so desire. A complete archive of the project is included as well as a full PDF of the design. These ensure downstream data users have clear and concise visibility of the entire Electrical project.

To find out more information on SOLIDWORKS Electrical or SOLIDWORKS PDM, reach out to your local rep or visit our website!

Corey Kubichka
CATI Electrical Product Manager
Computer Aided Technology

Update: As of the release of 2022 SP02 and later, SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS PDM both support Windows 11. If you have upgraded both components (if applicable) of your system to 2022 SP02, you should be able to use Windows 11 OS and be in a supported environment.

Be sure to stop by the SOLIDWORKS System Requirements page before making any environment changes so you can ensure your software will be compatible!

As of December 2021, SOLIDWORKS 2022 has been available to download, and that means a ton of exciting new features and bug fixes are available. If you’d like to read a bit more about that, check out our compilation of the What’s New 2022 blog series! If you’re just interested in the PDM news, check out our PDM-specific article.

It’s always a treat to see what new features SOLIDWORKS is bringing to the table with their yearly updates, but this release is a little different. We aren’t just getting a new SOLIDWORKS version this year; we get a new Windows OS as well! I’m sure you’ve heard the hype about Windows 11, and if not, feel free to check out Microsoft’s release for everything you need to know.

While it might be really tempting to check out the new OS, don’t click that upgrade button just yet!

Per SOLIDWORKS’ system requirements, Windows 11 support isn’t here yet. We are expecting support for Windows 11 in one of the upcoming service packs, but we don’t have any firm details on exactly which one or when that will be at this time.

Below is a list of the expected release dates for service packs throughout the year. Please note that these aren’t guaranteed times, rather, they’re rough estimates of what to expect based on past releases:

• SP00 – November 2021
• SP01 – January 2022
• SP02 – March 2022
• SP03 – May 2022
• SP04 – August 2022
• SP05 – November 2022

The good news is that SOLIDWORKS will continue to support Windows 10 for the foreseeable future, so there’s no rush in getting Windows 11 if you don’t want to. SOLIDWORKS always works as fast as possible to get support when a new OS is released, but ensuring the platforms are compatible is incredibly important when it comes to stability.

We have had customers upgrade to Windows 11 and we know that some SOLIDWORKS platforms seem to function somewhat normally, while others become completely non-functional. SOLIDWORKS PDM is one of the platforms that will not work as expected (if it works at all), so we strongly urge you to hold off upgrading if at all possible.

If you made the jump and are having troubles? No worries! Act quickly and you can likely get right back to working order. There is currently a 10-day grace period after upgrading to 11 where you can revert to your old OS with minimal work. Microsoft released an article describing the process.

As with any system changes, always talk to your IT team and PDM admin prior to moving forward with anything like this.

On one last note, remember to check in your files on a regular basis! We recommend checking in files at least once a day if possible. The more recently and often you check your files in, the less likely you are to lose data if anything happens!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns that aren’t covered by this article, please don’t hesitate in reaching out to your account manager or our support team at technical.support@cati.com. We’re more than happy to help.

Rowan Gray
PLM Support Engineer
Computer Aided Technology

If you’ve been using SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional for very long, you’ve probably heard about SOLIDWORKS Manage. I get many questions about the basics of SOLIDWORKS Manage when I chat with SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional users. In this article, I wanted to formally introduce you to SOLIDWORKS Manage and hopefully answer some of your questions concerning its capabilities.

What is SOLIDWORKS Manage?

SOLIDWORKS Manage is an add-on to SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional. SOLIDWORKS Manage adds powerful capabilities to your PDM system. It gives you powerful tools that enhance your project management, process management, item management capabilities, and introduces interactive dashboards and intelligent reporting to your data.

SOLIDWORKS PDM is generally thought of as “document-focused”. You have a document living in a folder. That document lives in one state within one workflow at any given time. Every document has a data card that stores the metadata about that file.

SOLIDWORKS Manage is an advanced, record-based system. Items in SOLIDWORKS Manage are represented by a record that contains searchable fields of information. Whether you are looking for a CAD file, project, process, BOM, etc., you look for the record that represents that file. To make things efficient and connected, your SOLIDWORK PDM Vault is synced to SOLIDWORKS Manage and in turn, every PDM file can be represented by a record within SOLIDWORKS Manage. You can also create records that represent an item without a file. For instance, you can create a record to represent a cardboard box or plastic bubble wrap. These items might need to be accounted for in the shipping BOM, but you don’t want your engineers modeling bubble wrap or a cardboard box.

What functionality does SOLIDWORKS Manage give me?

The core functionality of SOLIDWORKS Manage is built on 4 main pillars:

Project Management:

With SOLIDWORKS Manage, you have complete visibility into all projects, enabling organizations to plan, manage resources, connect project deliverables, and monitor status right down to the task. Resources can be allocated to each stage of a project, and tasks can be defined and assigned to project stakeholders.

Process Management:

SOLIDWORKS Manage streamlines engineering-focused business processes. SOLIDWORKS Manage allows you to automate your complex business processes, to ensure they work the same way every time. This standardization gives you the reassurance that all stakeholders are involved at the right time, and nothing gets missed. During a process, you can attach affected items and files, as well as enable ad-hoc approvers, or assign specific user tasks. Because of the tight integration with SOLIDWORKS PDM, you can utilize processes in SOLIDWORKS Manage to drive your SOLIDWORKS PDM workflows in your existing PDM vault. SOLIDWORKS Manage is a great option to manage your business-critical processes for Engineering Change Management and New Product Development.

Item Management:

With SOLIDWORKS Manage, you can create, edit, and compare complete BOMs using records and files. You can maintain connected but separate BOM variants for your organization’s products. Records for SOLIDWORKS configurations can be automatically or selectively created. Because of the integration between SOLIDWORKS CAD and SOLIDWORKS Manage, you can push BOM data directly to SOLIDWORKS drawings.

Visualization (Dashboards and Reports):

SOLIDWORKS Manage offers powerful dashboard and reporting tools that can pull data, including project progress, resource allocation, and quality performance from every aspect of the system and present it in a very easy-to-consume way. Additionally, the Dashboard Viewer allows users to view and interact with dashboards without consuming a SOLIDWORKS Manage licenses.

How is SOLIDWORKS Manage Licensed?

There are three basic client types targeted at different user roles:

SOLIDWORKS Manage Professional Editor

A Windows-based client for engineers and designers who work with SOLIDWORKS and other popular design tools. It includes all the functionality offered in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional CAD Editor, and provides application-specific integrations to manage the complex file relationships and file properties. In addition, all the capabilities for managing projects, participating in processes, creating and editing BOMs, and accessing dashboards and reports are included.

SOLIDWORKS Manage Professional Contributor

A Windows-based client primarily for people who need to manage development projects, create product structures (including CAD and record-based components), and participate in various business processes. In addition, it includes all the functionality offered in SOLIDWORKS® PDM Professional Contributor and is targeted at people who author non-CAD file data and other product-related files (such as Word and Excel).

SOLIDWORKS Manage Professional Viewer

A Windows-based client for users who need to search, view, and print documents. In addition, it includes all the functionality offered with SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Viewer licenses. It is also appropriate for people who need to participate in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional-based workflows and SOLIDWORKS Manage-based processes, and who need to view dashboards, run reports, and view project progress.

Michael King
PLM Solutions Architect
Computer Aided Technology