Ideas (formerly known as Enhancement Requests) allow you to tell Dassault Systèmes what you want in your software

Article by John Lee, CSWE updated July 30, 2024

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In this article we explain how to submit a SOLIDWORKS Enhancement Idea (Enhancement Request).

Every user of Dassault Systèmes products (such as SOLIDWORKS, Composer, Visualize, etc) at one time or another has likely found themselves working with the software and caught themselves thinking, “it would be great if it could do this”, or, “it would be awesome if it had this feature!”. You can directly tell Dassault Systèmes your Idea, formerly known as an Enhancement Request (ER).

NOTE: As of April 2023, the SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal and Admin Portal have been discontinued, so previous methods of submitting Enhancement Requests have been revised as follows:

How to submit an Enhancement Idea

  1. Log into the SOLIDWORKS Enhancement Ideas Community (on the Dassault Systèmes tenant).

    SOLIDWORKS Enhancement Ideas Community

    SOLIDWORKS Enhancement Ideas Community

  2. Search for your Idea to confirm whether it already exists.  Use the search field and filter for What > Idea.

    Search for an Idea

    Search for an Idea

  3. If you find an Idea that matches what you want, you can put a LIKE on it (click on “Like”), which adds your vote for it.
  4. If your Idea is not found, then visit https://forum.solidworks.com/idea/add to log it as a new idea.
  5. If your Idea matches a previously-submitted SPR that is found in the Knowledge Base, please cite the SPR number in the Idea.  This will help to ensure that pre-existing votes on the SPR will be included with the new votes on the Idea.

How SOLIDWORKS Ideas are reviewed

Product Definition Management and Development teams at Dassault Systèmes review each and every Idea to assess their feasibility and implementation difficulty to see when and if they may be able to integrate it.  It’s important to note that not every Idea will make it into the software and that some, due to the scope of the implementation, may take a few years to make it in.

If you need assistance with the process, we will be happy to show you how to submit it yourself. There are a couple of reasons for this.

  • Ensures the Idea gets associated to YOU and that they have your current contact information. There have been times when their Development begins looking at an Idea and has additional questions or need clarification on the request. They will reach out to you directly to get that. This ensures that they are fulfilling the Idea correctly to satisfy your needs. Nothing worse than being told an Idea has been added, only to discover when you test it out that it’s incorrect or doesn’t fully achieve what you’re after.
  • YOU are uniquely and best qualified to describe the request and problem driving it. We strive to best and fully understand your requirements and the reasons behind it, but a miscommunication could occur and we may not have properly understood nor explained the problem and request accurately, per your needs.  In times like this, when it comes to the Idea and evolution of the software, it’s recommended you communicate directly with Dassault Systèmes.

We are happy to assist you with your first Idea submission by talking you through it or even remotely walking you through it to introduce you to the process.

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John Lee, CSWE

John Lee is inherently lazy in that he prefers to work smarter - not harder. A CSWE with fifteen years of experience using SOLIDWORKS and a background in mechanical design, John has used SOLIDWORKS in various industries requiring design for injection molding, sheet metal, weldments and structural steel.