Do you know that SOLIDWORKS PDM has a Search Tool?

Often when I’m working with SOLIDWORKS PDM users, I’ll see many navigate to files, by browsing through folders. This method is cumbersome and requires remembering in which buried sub-folder a file is stored in. These same users are often surprised to hear that SOLIDWORKS PDM include a powerful and customizable search tool.

At the top-right of the Window Explorer Vault View, there is an icon that looks like a magnifying glass, clicking on the arrow pointing down will reveal all of the searches that are available to you.

Searches

Searches can also be performed inside SOLIDWORKS (requires that PDM CAD Editor is installed), from the PDM tab, of the SOLIDWORKS Task Pane

Search from the SOLIDWORKS PDM Task Pane

When launching a search from SOLIDWORKS, the PDM search tool is used. In the Window Explorer Vault View, a search can be launched from within the Vault View or in a separate window, by selecting Search Tool…

Once the search is launched searches can be performed with a variety of keywords, such as File Name, State, and Checked Out By. The keywords that you can searched for are dependent on how the Search was created. Your PDM Admin should be able to provide information on the set-up of your Searches. Below, is the default Complete Search, that ships with SOLIDWORKS PDM.

Default SOLIDWORKS PDM Search

Once the Search has found the document(s) you were looking for, you can perform many functions from the search results, such as Check-out, Open, and Change State.