Get our wide array of technical resources delivered right to your inbox. Unsubscribe at any time.
Reports are boring. However, they are often necessary and can be a useful tool to prove that work is getting completed in a timely manner. But why not make them more interesting to look at and easier to read? We can do that using Excel and some SQL knowledge.
SOLIDWORKS PDM includes a whole set of tools for Bill of Materials beyond what we’re used to in SOLIDWORKS alone. Using these tools, we have options for differing formatting and new ways to export and compare. We can even treat bills as their own entities without completely losing the parametric link between a model and BOM. Let’s explore some of these options.
After installation, SOLIDWORKS automatically sets up file associations in the registry. However, these associations may get lost over time. Several symptoms indicate this has happened.
Business needs sometimes dictate that a specific replicated archive is no longer needed. It may be that you are changing the replicated location from one to another, that you are transferring the server between machines (physical or virtual) at the same location, or that you just no longer need replication. Whatever the reason, the process will be to remove the replicated archive server before decommissioning it. This will help prevent and limit errors and orphaned files. This article explains how to remove a replicated SOLIDWORKS PDM Archive Server. Let's get started.
It is sometimes necessary to move SOLIDWORKS PDM data to new server(s) with different names. This could be due to a necessary upgrade, server crash or outage, policy compliance changes, or a variety of other reasons. Knowing how to do so correctly is critical for your environment to be down for as little time as possible while still coming away with a fully functioning vault at the end of the process.
In SOLIDWORKS PDM, it’s common to have the PDM data card display metadata describing the model beyond its basic geometry—Description, Part Number, Revision, and many more are popular and useful pieces of information to track about a file. It’s often the data card itself that is the driving force behind the formatting of this type of data entry into the destination file; however, thanks to the magic of Variable Mapping, this behavior is a two-way street between the file and SOLIDWORKS PDM.
Barcodes are used in SOLIDWORKS PDM data cards as a way to scan and input vaulted file data like Part Numbers without being exposed to errors common with manual entry. Simply point, scan, and easily reference accurate information in another ERP system. Many possibilities with this include inventory management, batch tracking, accounting, cooperation across teams, quality assurance, etc.
Have you ever seen that the preview tab in SOLIDWORKS PDM doesn't match the model you just had open in SOLIDWORKS? Most of the time when you see the mismatch, you'll see a warning that the file needs to be rebuilt, even though you were just editing the file. It all comes down to how PDM recognizes when you update a file and when the preview updates. If you make sure to follow the proper workflow and rebuild all parent files, you should be able to avoid this confusing warning message.
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional and SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard client can be installed at the same time as SOLIDWORKS. Installation uses the SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager located on the SOLIDWORKS DVD or downloaded from SOLIDWORKS.