Articles by: Joe Medeiros, CSWE
Joe Medeiros is a SOLIDWORKS and PDM Certified Expert. He has been helping SOLIDWORKS users with training, mentoring and implementations since 1998. He combines industry experience with a thorough understanding of SOLIDWORKS products to assist customers in being successful. He shares his experience and expertise through blogs; one of which has been incorporated into the SOLIDWORKS Essentials training manual.
A SOLIDWORKS PDM Named BOM, is a saved from a Computed BOM and can be treated like any other vaulted file. Named BOMs can be Checked In/Out, Versioned, and have their State changed. Like other vaulted files, the history of the BOM is captured and can be viewed. Named BOMs can only be viewed by switching the…
There are three SOLIDWORKS PDM Display Types available in the Windows Explorer Local Vault: Show Files Show Bills of Materials Show Search Results They can be found under the Display menu as shown below: Show Files Show Files, is the default and most commonly used. This is the view, that displays the files and folders, that…
To verify that a PDM Client computer or Archive server can communicate with the SQL (Database) Server, a SOLIDWORKS PDM ODBC test can be performed. ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) is accessed from the Windows Administrative Tools: The testing is defined from the System DSN tab, by clicking on Add and selecting SQL Server Any Name can be…
A quick way of determining which SOLIDWORKS PDM Variable is connected to a Data Card Control, is from within the Local Vault View. With the Data Card Tab selected: Click on the Help Icon, in the top-right of the lower panel. A question mark will appear next to the the mouse cursor: Then click on…
In SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard, PDF Convert Task can now be created to convert SOLIDWORKS Drawings to PDFs. Tasks are created through the SOLIDWORKS PDM Administration, by accessing the Task node. The Task node will contain the Task List, which can used to view the Task status and to manually launch the Task. The Convert Task will…
To update a file’s Custom Properties with the corresponding variable values in the SOLIDWORKS PDM Vault Database, select one or more files from within the PDM Local Vault View, then from the Modify pull-down select Modify > Update > File Attributes from Database.
The SOLIDWORKS PDM Local Vault View tool: Modify > Update > Values in Files, is a great tool for copying variable values, from a Folder Data Card, to Files. This tool will copy specified Variable values in a folder, to corresponding variables of selected files. As noted, this tool is available in the PDM Local…
New in SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard 2018, is the ability to run Convert to PDF on SOLIDWORKS Drawings. This is enabled through PDM Tasks. Tasks are used to automate procedures, that are performed regularly. The Convert Task in SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard, automates the process of creating PDFs of SOLIDWORKS Drawings. This Task uses the same mechanics…