5 tips for Navigating the 3DEXPERIENCE Task Pane in SOLIDWORKS

When using SOLIDWORKS Connected or the Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS Role, your 3DEXPERIENCE file management and collaboration tools can be accessed through the task pane on the right side of the screen. MySession is where you can view relevant Part and Assembly metadata, execute lifecycle management commands, and ensure your connection to the correct Collaborative Space within your Platform. Keep reading to learn 5 tips for getting the most out of the 3DEXPERIENCE MySession interface.

1. Show Labels

One of the first things you may want to do within the 3DEXPERIENCE Add-in is turn on command labels. The extra context provided by the command labels is especially helpful for new users who are learning the interface for the first time. To do this, right-click anywhere in the toolbar at the bottom of the MySession window and select “Show Labels”. In the screenshots below, you can see what the Toolbar looks like without and with labels.

Toolbar without labels

Toolbar with labels

2. Select Your Working Collaborative Space

At the top of your 3DEXPERIENCE task pane, just after “MySession – ” the current working Collaborative Space is listed. This is where your files are saved in the Platform. In the screenshot below, my active Collaborative Space is “3DX DEMOS”.

While you work, and especially before saving new files for the first time, you will want to make sure you have the correct Collaborative Space selected. To do this, click the drop-down arrow to the right of MySession, and Select the Gear icon for Preferences.

In the Edit Preferences dialog, select the appropriate Collaborative Space from the Credentials dropdown list. Then click Save.

3. Customize columns

The MySession window provides information about the file(s) open in the current SOLIDWORKS window. The column headers can be customized to allow for a more personalized interface. Columns can be added or removed by right-clicking on any column header and selecting “Customize View”. From the list, column titles that are highlighted in grey are currently visible. Clicking a title from the list will either hide or show that particular column.

Columns can also be rearranged by dragging and dropping the column title left or right. In the images below you can see the “Description” column being dropped into a new position.

4. Open additional apps

In the 3DEXPERIENCE Window, additional Apps can be accessed by selecting the blue Compass icon in the upper left corner.

After launching an additional application, such as Bookmark Editor, that window becomes active within the 3DEXPERIENCE Task Pane. You can navigate back to MySession by clicking the dropdown at the top of the screen.

5. View your Cached Files (3DEXPERIENCE Files on this PC)

Each time you open a file from the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform into SOLDWORKS, a temporary local working copy is created automatically. This is called your local cache. You can see all of your locally cached files by navigating to the “3DEXPERIENCE Files on this PC” tab.

To clear your cache, you can click the checkbox in the upper left corner to select all files, then right-click anywhere and select “Delete from this PC”.