When working with SOLIDWORKS Network License(s) or “Floating” SOLIDWORKS license(s), there are times when just installing and activating it isn’t enough for your company. There are times, when a company gets big enough, that licenses need to be managed by which group is allowed to use certain products or control which products are returned faster when sitting idle. This is where the need for an Option File for the SolidNetwork License Manager Server is a great solution.
The SOLIDWORKS PDM error message, "The program and the file vault are of incompatible versions" is commonly run into when performing a major SOLIDWORKS PDM version upgrade. It occurs if the database has not been upgraded or if the wrong PDM client version has been installed.
Preserve Relative Paths is an option in SOLIDWORKS PDM Copy Tree and Move Tree features that makes it possible for the copied or moved files to bring their sub-folder structure along with them. The sub-folder structure is the folder name of where the files originally were located. In the example below, the components are broken up into folders based on their file type.
Copy Tree is a helpful SOLIDWORKS PDM feature that can be used to make a copy of a folder or file inside or outside of the PDM vault and maintain its references. This feature is very similar to the widely used Pack and Go inside SOLIDWORKS but allows for more customization. To perform a Copy Tree, open the PDM vault and navigate to the folder or top-level file you would like to copy, highlight it, select tools from the above toolbar, then select Copy Tree from the pop-out menu.
There can be instances where users might see gray folders or local files in their Vault View. These gray folders indicate that a local folder existed in your local Vault View but not in the SOLIDWORKS PDM vault itself. SOLIDWORKS PDM grabs and caches copies of folders and files locally as users browse and work with files in the vault.
In SOLIDWORKS PDM 2020 and newer, users can now easily access searching functionality using keyboard shortcuts. While browsing anywhere inside the PDM Vault View (File Explorer), typing CTRL & F will take you directly to the Quick Search. In case you missed it, Quick Search is one of the new search enhancements in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2020.
Since SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018, other administrators can now perform undo checkout on a file owned by another user. Prior to PDM 2018, only the default admin user could undo a check out of files that were checked out by another user.
To change the language in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2021 or newer, simply open Windows Explorer and navigate to the vault view. Before taking any further steps,understand that doing so affacts all users on the machine, requires that the same setting be used for th euser in all vault views, and requires a reboot.
The report generator can be a very powerful tool provided we know how to wield it. It allows us to query the database for information without the use of SQL Management Studio. We’ve explored adding reports to the Report Generator, but we haven’t explored creating custom reports in SOLIDWORKS PDM. Doing this requires a little bit of SQL knowledge and understanding of where to look for items in the SOLIDWORKS PDM Database; meaning, some of this knowledge can be taught, but, for example, the structure of the database and information you are looking for will likely only come through experience.