Javelin / TriMech Author
Justin Williams
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018 File Version Upgrade Tool – Detailed Summary
By Justin Williams on January 8, 2018
Included with the enhancements to the SOLIDWORKS PDM File Version Upgrade Tool in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018, is a more detailed summary of the files ready to upgrade: The new summary lists: The total number of SOLIDWORKS versions to update. Number of SOLIDWORKS part file versions….
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018 Supports Non-SOLIDWORKS CAD File References
By Justin Williams on January 6, 2018
New in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018 is support for the 3D Interconnect functionality; the PDM vault will now manage references between SOLIDWORKS files and non-SOLIDWORKS CAD files. Note: The non-SOLIDWORKS CAD files must be added to the vault before being added to the assembly, to save the references…
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018 Enhancement: Detailed Warning Messages for Workflow Conditions
By Justin Williams on January 4, 2018
New in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018, we are presented with more information as to why the vault is angry at us with detailed SOLIDWORKS PDM Warning Messages for when workflow conditions are not met. Previously in SOLIDWORKS PDM, if a workflow condition was not met…it would look…
SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018 Administrators can undo check out files by other users!
By Justin Williams on January 2, 2018
New in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018; Administrative Permission – Can undo check out files checked out by other users. Previously in SOLIDWORKS PDM only the default ‘admin’ user account could undo the check out of files checked out by other users or in other views. Why might…
How to set the SOLIDWORKS PDM Details View as default in Windows Explorer
By Justin Williams on November 4, 2017
During our Administering SOLIDWORKS PDM Training course, I always recommend setting the explorer view as Details as there’s a lot more information available for files with this view option. Directly after I often get asked: “How do I set the SOLIDWORKS PDM Details View as the…
How to set the default SOLIDWORKS PDM search path to be the root folder
By Justin Williams on November 3, 2017
When opening the Complete Search Card from within a vault, the SOLIDWORKS PDM default search path will be the folder in which the search was opened, therefore only searching from that folder down. As a user, I found that 99.9% of the time, I actually wanted…
How to show Drawings under the SOLIDWORKS PDM Contains Tab
By Justin Williams on October 30, 2017
By default the SOLIDWORKS PDM Contains Tab in Windows Explorer is set to the ‘Active Configurations’, and as a result of this will not show any references to drawings. How to show the drawings within the Contains tab Change the view from Default <Active Configuration>…
How to setup the Weldment Cut List for SOLIDWORKS PDM
By Justin Williams on October 29, 2017
In this article, we’re going to look at how to setup the weldment cut list to show the quantity and length values in a SOLIDWORKS PDM Weldment Cut List Quantity Administration Tool > Bills of Materials > Weldment Cut List Add the column ‘QTY’ with the variable <Reference…
How to perform a SOLIDWORKS PDM Exact Search (Updated)
By Justin Williams on October 23, 2017
When completing a search in SOLIDWORKS PDM using the name field; when two or more words separated by a space the search will use an OR operation. Or, if you’re searching one word, what happens is a LIKE operation. In large vaults, these searches will…
How to copy entire folder structures into the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Templates dialog
By Justin Williams on October 1, 2017
It’s no secret I’m a big fan of SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional templates. Previously as a vault administrator I had an obsession with folder structure. I found that every user had a style to file management with regards to folder structure which resulted in inconsistencies depending on…
What does changing a SOLIDWORKS PDM ‘sa’ password affect?
By Justin Williams on September 25, 2017
If the SOLIDWORKS PDM sa password is lost or forgotten it can be reset using these steps. Whenever there is a change to the account password, there is a few places within the vault settings where it needs to be updated: Archive Server Settings On…
SOLIDWORKS PDM Rollback Alternative
By Justin Williams on August 31, 2017
We have talked about the SOLIDWORKS PDM Rollback feature before and saw some of the enhancements made to the feature for SOLIDWORKS 2017. In learning about it we also saw the warning; This function should be used with caution as it permanently deletes file versions. Personally I’m not…
How to prevent broken references being checked into a SOLIDWORKS PDM Vault
By Justin Williams on August 28, 2017
Nobody enjoys being greeted by this error message when opening an assembly in SOLIDWORKS. It usually means there’s a broken reference… Yup definitely broken. Within a SOLIDWORKS PDM environment this can happen when migrating files via explorer into the vault. When dragged into the vault,…
Why is the ‘Get’ button inoperable in SOLIDWORKS PDM?
By Justin Williams on August 22, 2017
I have all the appropriate folder and state permissions, and I can view and save a file via the history dialog, so why is the SOLIDWORKS PDM Get disabled? This is due to a user setting within the vault; ‘Always work with latest version of files’….
SOLIDWORKS PDM Complete Search Card
By Justin Williams on May 31, 2017
‘Out of the box’ SOLIDWORKS PDM contains a Complete Search Card that has many options for search criteria. For example; Users can search by filename, description, current state, or even so far as text contained inside a document using the “Content” tab. Basically; this form has an option for…