Javelin / TriMech Author
Andrew Lidstone, CSWE
SOLIDWORKS PDM Database Error when Browsing to the Vault View through an Open or Save dialog
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on March 17, 2017
When a SOLIDWORKS PDM Vault View is created on a client computer, the view’s connection information is stored in the Windows Registry. An additional entry is also created for 32 bit programs. However, this registry entry can sometimes be flagged by some system cleanup utilities…
SOLIDWORKS Visualize Navigation Controls
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on March 16, 2017
SOLIDWORKS Visualize was a great addition to the tools available to SOLIDWORKS Professional and Premium users. But the SOLIDWORKS Visualize navigation controls in the 2016 release were very different from SOLIDWORKS; which made switching back and forth between the programs a bit confusing for long time…
How to lock the SOLIDWORKS PDM Vault
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on March 7, 2017
When performing maintenance on a SOLIDWORKS PDM Vault, for instance updating the software or moving the Database or Archive files to a different location; it is best to lock down access to the vault so that no changes can be made while the maintenance is…
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2017 Input Formula For Search Cards
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on January 11, 2017
In previous versions of SOLIDWORKS PDM, it was possible to add Input Formulas to Edit boxes in Search Cards … but they didn’t actually do anything. The input formula box would display for any Edit box in the Card Editor, so the formula could be…
Using Dispatch to Move files in a SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Vault
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on January 9, 2017
SOLIDWORKS PDM Dispatch Action is a very powerful, but often overlooked tool in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional, and with PDM 2017, it’s now even more powerful. In previous releases it was only possible to use the Dispatch action to Copy, Delete, or Rename files in the…
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Replicate Database is new for 2017
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on December 30, 2016
Starting with the 2017 release of SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional, administrators can now take advantage of the “AlwaysOn Availability Groups” or AOAG in Microsoft SQL Enterprise edition. This will allow for replication of the vault database to multiple locations. Previously, replication in PDM was available for Archives…
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2017 Converts DraftSight DWG/DXF to PDF Automatically
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on December 16, 2016
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional 2017 comes with some very useful new Tasks that can be big time savers for users. One is the new DraftSight to PDF Task. This Task is able to convert DWG and DXF files to PDF format. This requires that DraftSight Professional or…
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2017 can automatically Convert Microsoft Office files as PDF
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on December 14, 2016
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional 2017 has introduced a new Task that can save Microsoft Office documents as PDF. The Task is able to convert Word, Excel and PowerPoint files to PDF. The system running the Task must have Microsoft Office 2010 or newer installed for the Task to work….
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2017 Using Variables in the Convert Task Output File Name
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on December 2, 2016
A nice new function has been added to the out of the box SOLIDWORKS PDM Convert Task in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional 2017. When building the file name for the output file, it is now possible to select Data Card Variables right within the interface. In previous releases…
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2017 Disable User Information Pop-up
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on November 16, 2016
When browsing through the SOLIDWORKS PDM Vault View, or through search results, if you pause with your mouse cursor over the user name in the “Checked Out By” column, you will get a pop-up with information about that user such as how long they have…
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2017 Search Local Files
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on October 8, 2016
A great new feature in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2017 Standard and Professional, is the ‘SOLIDWORKS PDM Search Local Files’ command. This new command can be accessed through the right-click shortcut menu in the Vault View. This command can be used to search for any files that exist in the…
How to customize SOLIDWORKS PDM Menus
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on September 12, 2016
It’s easy to customize SOLIDWORKS PDM menus to better suit the needs of a group or a user that is working in a PDM vault. An example of this is how the right-click shortcut menus and toolbars within the Vault View can be easily customized. The Administrator can…
Restarting the SOLIDWORKS PDM Database Server Service
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on August 26, 2016
The SOLIDWORKS PDM Database Server Service is a helper service that periodically checks the SOLIDWORKS PDM database for any new changes and then acts on these. The service handles operations such as: Automatic notifications XML exports Card list updates Cold Store schedule Replication schedule Cleaner Service…
Backing Up the SOLIDWORKS Workgroup PDM Vault
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on August 24, 2016
One of the great features of SOLIDWORKS Workgroup PDM is that the vault is entirely self contained. This makes backing up the vault VERY simple. However, we frequently find in conversations with SOLIDWORKS Workgroup administrators that the vault is not being backed up using a regular schedule. To…
How to customize the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Convert Task for unsupported file types
By Andrew Lidstone, CSWE on August 18, 2016
The default SOLIDWORKS Convert Task in PDM Professional (tasks are not available in SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard) allows you to export to many different file types. Unfortunately, at this time, .smg files (for SOLIDWORKS Composer) are not one of the supported file types. However, the SOLIDWORKS Convert Task…