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The following steps will allow you to perform a clean SOLIDWORKS PDM client uninstall & reinstall by removing registry entries and files that normally are left behind after uninstalling SOLIDWORKS PDM. This procedure is useful when troubleshooting a problematic client system.

The purpose of this article is to highlight the tools available to compare SOLIDWORKS PDM file versions from least to most effective. There are three ways to compare PDM versions of a file: visually inspecting changes, using the Compare Command, or using the Compare Documents command found in SOLIDWORKS CAD.

This can't be right?! You check out a file in SOLIDWORKS PDM then you open it in SOLIDWORKS. But, for some reason, it still shows as read-only in the title bar! What the heck is going on? This problem occurs infrequently, but when it does it can be very vexing. It just doesn’t make sense that a checked-out file would be read-only!

SOLIDWORKS PDM Administrators often need to create a workflow based on a specific file type such as a Microsoft Word Document or PDF. In this example, a workflow will be created to manage Microsoft Word Documents. In the Administration Tool, right-click on Workflows and create a new Workflow or edit an existing Workflow. The Workflow Properties dialog box will pop up.

 

 

In SOLIDWORKS PDM, the first step in revision management is creating a revision number. Once a revision number is created, it can then be added to a workflow to automatically set the revision. In this example, the target state is "Approved". We have to add the revision to this state. Double-click click on the target state and to go the revisions tab. Change Do not use a revision number to the revision number that you have previously created.

 

 

SOLIDWORKS Routing can be used in the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional environment. The routing application is used to create special types of subassemblies that build paths of pipes, tubes, or electrical cables between components.Routing relies heavily on Design Library parts.

 

If you are familiar with SOLIDWORKS PDM, then you are probably aware of the ability within the software to create custom column views to display metadata in Windows Explorer. This is also possible with search results. We can create custom search results columns to display desired metadata in our search results lists. 

 

When a workstation is enabled on a to be a PDM task host it will store the host name in the file vault database table “Hosts” and be displayed under the “computers supporting a task” list when configuring tasks. The following steps will walk you through how to manually remove the workstation as a task host.

New in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2016 is the ability to read and write custom properties of PDFs using the PDF plug-in. This PDF plug-in also maps any user-defined custom properties written in the Custom tab of a PDF. In previous versions of SOLIDWORKS PDM, this capability did not exist, and you could not read or write PDF custom properties for PDM variables.