Why you should always choose the root folder for the local view in SOLIDWORKS PDM

When creating a SOLIDWORKS PDM local view for a PDM client, the first dialog we’re greeted with is: Select the folder you want to create the file vault view in

Local View Location

My recommendation is to select the root folder.

In some cases users want to store the local view in some sub-folders, for example;

C:\SOLIDWORKS PDM\Folder McFolderFace\Vault\PDM_STD

Folder McFolderFace

Ok maybe that’s a bit dramatic but you get the point.  While there’s nothing wrong with this and you’ll be able to login and add files to your vault as expected, the problem is that this can limit us later on with file path length.

Due to SOLIDWORKS PDM being integrated in Windows Explorer, it is affected by the Windows limitation of file path maximum length being 260 characters.

With the example above we’re adding 41 unnecessary characters whereas if we chose the root folder we maximize the amount of sub folders and file name length we can create within the vault.

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