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SolidWorks Office
Professional

PDMWorks

SolidWorks Corporation
300 Baker Avenue
Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA

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COMMERCIAL COMPUTER
SOFTWARE - PROPRIETARY
U.S. Government Restricted Rights. Use,
duplication, or disclosure by the government is
subject to restrictions as set forth in FAR 52.227-19
(Commercial Computer Software - Restricted
Rights), DFARS 227.7202 (Commercial Computer
Software and Commercial Computer Software
Documentation), and in the license agreement, as
applicable.
Contractor/Manufacturer:
SolidWorks Corporation, 300 Baker Avenue,
Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA
Portions of this software 1988, 2000 Aladdin
Enterprises.
Portions of this software 1996, 2001 Artifex
Software, Inc.
Portions of this software 2001 artofcode LLC.
Portions of this software 2005 Bluebeam
Software, Inc.
Portions of this software 1999, 2002-2005
ComponentOne
Portions of this software 1990-2005 D-Cubed
Limited.
Portions of this product are distributed under license
from DC Micro Development, Copyright 19942002 DC Micro Development, Inc. All rights
reserved
Portions eHelp Corporation. All rights reserved.
Portions of this software 1998-2005 Geometric
Software Solutions Co. Limited.
Portions of this software 1986-2005 mental
images GmbH & Co. KG
Portions of this software 1996 Microsoft
Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Portions of this software 2005 Priware Limited
Portions of this software 2001, SIMULOG.
Portions of this software 1995-2005 Spatial
Corporation.
Portions of this software 2003-2005, Structural
Research & Analysis Corp.
Portions of this software 1997-2005 Tech Soft
America.
Portions of this software are copyrighted by and are
the property of UGS Corp. 2005.
Portions of this software 1999-2005 Viewpoint
Corporation.
Portions of this software 1994-2005, Visual
Kinematics, Inc.
This software is based in part on the work of the
Independent JPEG group.
All Rights Reserved

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1995-2005, SolidWorks Corporation

300 Baker Avenue
Concord, Massachusetts 01742 USA
All Rights Reserved
U.S. Patents 5,815,154; 6,219,049; 6,219,055;
6,603,486; 6,611,725; and 6,844,877 and certain
other foreign patents, including EP 1,116,190 and JP
3,517,643. U.S. and foreign patents pending.
SolidWorks Corporation is a Dassault Systemes S.A.
(Nasdaq:DASTY) company.
The information and the software discussed in this
document are subject to change without notice and
should not be considered commitments by
SolidWorks Corporation.
No material may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for
any purpose without the express written permission
of SolidWorks Corporation.
The software discussed in this document is furnished
under a license and may be used or copied only in
accordance with the terms of this license. All
warranties given by SolidWorks Corporation as to
the software and documentation are set forth in the
SolidWorks Corporation License and Subscription
Service Agreement, and nothing stated in, or implied
by, this document or its contents shall be considered
or deemed a modification or amendment of such
warranties.
SolidWorks, PDMWorks, and 3D PartStream.NET,
and the eDrawings logo are registered trademarks of
SolidWorks Corporation.
SolidWorks 2006 is a product name of SolidWorks
Corporation.
COSMOSXpress, DWGeditor, DWGgateway,
eDrawings, Feature Palette, PhotoWorks, and
XchangeWorks are trademarks, 3D ContentCentral
is a service mark, and FeatureManager is a jointly
owned registered trademark of SolidWorks
Corporation.
COSMOS, COSMOSWorks, COSMOSMotion, and
COSMOSFloWorks are trademarks of Structural
Research and Analysis Corporation.
FeatureWorks is a registered trademark of
Geometric Software Solutions Co. Limited.
ACIS is a registered trademark of Spatial
Corporation.
GLOBEtrotter and FLEXlm are registered
trademarks of Globetrotter Software, Inc.
Other brand or product names are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Document Number: PMT0076-ENG

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Vault Administrators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Course Design Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Using this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Laboratory Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
About the CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Windows 2000 and Windows XP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Conventions Used in this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Lesson 1:
PDM Concepts and Document Check In
The Four Pillars of PDM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
What is the PDMWorks Software? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
PDMWorks Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The PDMWorks Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PDMWorks Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
VaultAdmin Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
PDMWorks Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Web Portal Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Basic Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
File Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Project Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
File Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Revision Numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
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Locking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
PDMWorks User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Starting PDMWorks Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
SolidWorks User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Setting up PDMWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Users Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Case Study: Checking In SolidWorks Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
User Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Local View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Vault View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Document Check In Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Check In Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Revision Scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Lifecycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Checking in References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Local View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Vault Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Logging In/Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Bind Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Properties for Individual Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Creating Sub-projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Change Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Multi-selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Smart Dialog Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Take/Release Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Renaming Documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Lifecycle Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Exercise 1:
Check In an Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Exercise 2:
Sub-projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Exercise 3:
Information From the Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Lesson 2:
Accessing Documents
Working on Vaulted Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Take Ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Open Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Check Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Methods of Opening/Checking Out Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Preview Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

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Document Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Mode-less Dialogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Searching for Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Updating Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Read-only References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Comparing Local Files To The Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Delete Local Copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
References To Old Revisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Opening Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Check Out Alternative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Open Advanced. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Non-SolidWorks Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Check In from disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
File Associations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Revision Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Adding Attachments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Removing Attachments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Exercise 4:
Checking Out Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Exercise 5:
Checking In Other Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Lesson 3:
PDMWorks Environment
Other PDMWorks Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Custom Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Checkin Without Bumping Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Customizing the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Searching in a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Output to File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
File Format Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Drawing Revisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Case Study: Drawing Revisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
SolidWorks Tools and Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
DrawCompare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Case Study: Compare Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Case Study: Compare Geometry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
SolidWorks Only Method. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
PDMWorks With Local Work Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
PDMWorks With A Shared Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Case Study: Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Printing Drawings From The Vault. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Case Study: Batch Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

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Automated File Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Case Study: Custom Properties in Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Save and PDMWorks Check In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Bulk Loading Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Alternate Methods to Access the Vault. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Standalone Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
User Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Web Portal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
eDrawing Viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Software Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Exercise 6:
Add Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Exercise 7:
Create a Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Exercise 8:
Revision and Lifecycle Bumping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Lesson 4:
Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed
Template Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Case Study: Create a Template Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Drag and Drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Local Files Out of Date. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Toolbox Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Toolbox Master Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Toolbox Copy Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Identifying Toolbox Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Case Study: Adding Toolbox Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Toolbox Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Files That are Not Revision Managed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Toolbox Master Part Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Vault Settings Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Deleting Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Rollback to Previous Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Case Study: Not Revision Managed Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Design Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Common Part Shared Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Common Parts Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Document Ranges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Trash Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Revision Bumping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Adding Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Case Study: Revision Bumping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Removing Files From the Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Explain Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Case Study: Remove Files From The Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

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Administrator Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

The Vault Administrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
The Vault. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
The Vault Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Vault Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Vault Backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Vault Restoration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Case Study: Replace The Vault. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
VaultAdmin Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
User Accounts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Modify User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Delete User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Change Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Case Study: User Accounts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
User Access by Custom Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Changing Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Deleting Users. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Case Study: Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Project Access. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Read Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Write Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Case Study: Copy Project Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Revision Scheme. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Lifecycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Controlling User Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Case Study: Create Lifecycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Taking Ownership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Ownership By Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Document Flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Revision Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Automatic Change In Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Vault Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

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PDMWorks Setup

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Advanced Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Case Study: Advanced Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Managing Configuration Revisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Case Study: Configuration Revisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Exercise 9:
Create A Fastener Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Exercise 10:
Toolbox Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

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Admin Privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Global Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Locking The Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Viewing with eDrawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Delete, Rollback, Archive Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Vault Log File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Case Study: Global Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Custom Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Case Study: Adding Custom Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Revision Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Revision Table Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Standard Libraries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Toolbox parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Not Revision Managed Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Common Parts Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Common Part Shared Folder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Common Parts Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Case Study: Toolbox Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Exercise 11:
User Accounts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Exercise 12:
Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Exercise 13:
Revision Scheme & Lifecycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Lifecycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Lifecycle Rules: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Lesson 6:
PDMWorks Administration
Maintaining The Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Locking The Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Vault Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Case Study: Vault Backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Log File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Case Study: Log Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Tree Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Maintaining User Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
File Owner Leaves The Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
File Owner on Temporary Leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
User Access by Property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Case Study: Modify Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Case Study: Passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Regaining Disk Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Deleting Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Deleting Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

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Delete/Trash Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Deleting Obsolete Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Keep Latest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Case Study: Obsolete Folders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Archiving Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Case Study: Archiving Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Restoring Archived Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Mapping Custom Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Case Study: Property Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Copy Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Case Study: Copy Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Advanced Select/Replace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Bulk Loading Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Case Study: Bulk Check In Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Update Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
File Conversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Case Study: Converting Files In The Vault. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Security of the Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Backing up the Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Time Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Maximizing Vault Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Deleting Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Copies of Latest Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Custom Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Files Without Revision Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
External References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Template Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Exercise 14:
Maintaining the Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Exercise 15:
Bulk Check In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Exercise 16:
Archive Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Exercise 17:
File Conversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Introduction

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

About This
Course

The goal of this course is to teach you how to use the PDMWorks
software to manage design documents. A prerequisite to using the
PDMWorks software is an understanding of the file structure and file
referencing used by SolidWorks.

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The focus of this course is on the fundamental skills and concepts

central to the successful use of PDMWorks. You should view the
training course manual as a supplement to, not a replacement for, the
system documentation and on-line help. Once you have developed a
good foundation in basic skills, you can refer to the on-line help for
information on less frequently used command options.
The intended audience for this course is both PDMWorks clients
(general users) and vault administrators.
There are many people who use PDMWorks without SolidWorks
through the Standalone Client. This course has been designed to
accommodate them as well as SolidWorks users. While the Standalone
interface looks different from the interface used within SolidWorks, the
same principles apply so that if you know either one, using the other
should be straight forward.

Vault
Administrators

This course is used for both Vault Administrators and PDMWorks

users. As Vault Administrators must first be competent PDMWorks
users, all six lessons comprise the Vault Administrator course. Vault
Administrators should complete the first four lessons before the last
two lessons which are designed specifically for them. Basic
information covered in the first four lessons is not repeated in the Vault
Administrator lessons.
The course for PDMWorks users is only the first four lessons.

Prerequisites

Students attending this course are expected to have the following:

Q
Q

Basic experience with the SolidWorks software.

Experience with the Windows operating system.
Knowledge of SolidWorks file structure and referencing (the
SolidWorks File Management course is strongly recommended).

This course is designed around a process- or task-based approach to

training. Rather than focus on individual features and functions, a
process-based training course emphasizes the process and procedures
you follow to complete a particular task. By utilizing case studies to
illustrate these processes, you learn the necessary commands, options
and menus in the context of completing a task.

Using this Book

This training manual is intended to be used in a classroom environment

under the guidance of an experienced instructor. It is not intended to be
a self-paced tutorial. The examples and case studies are designed to be
demonstrated live by the instructor.

About This Course

Course Design
Philosophy

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Laboratory exercises give you the opportunity to apply and practice the
material covered during the lecture/demonstration portion of the
course. They are designed to represent typical situations while being
modest enough to be completed during class time. You should note that
many students work at different paces. Therefore, we have included
more lab exercises than you can reasonably expect to complete during
the course. This ensures that even the fastest student will not run out of
exercises.

About the CD

Bound inside the rear cover is a CD containing the two PDMWorks

vaults and copies of the various files and that are used throughout this
course. The are organized by lesson number. The Case Study folder
contains the files your instructor uses while presenting the various
lessons. The Exercises folder contains any files that are required for
doing the laboratory exercise.

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Laboratory
Exercises

Windows 2000
and Windows XP

The screen shots in this manual were made using SolidWorks 2006 and
PDMWorks 2006 running on Windows 2000 and Windows XP. You
may notice differences in the appearance of the menus and windows.
These differences do not affect the performance of the software.

Conventions Used
in this Book

This manual uses the following typographic conventions:

Convention

Bold Sans Serif

SolidWorks and PDMWorks commands and

options appear in this style. For example,
Tools, PDMWorks means choose the
PDMWorks option from the Tools menu.

Typewriter

Project names and file names appear in this

style. Names that you type appear in this style.

17 Do this step

Meaning

Double lines precede and follow sections of

the procedures. This provides separation
between the steps of the procedure and large
blocks of explanatory text. The steps
themselves are numbered in sans serif bold.

About This Course

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and
Document Check In

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Q

Describe the key characteristics of the PDMWorks software.

Describe the general procedures used with PDMWorks.

Understand the basic document flow into and out of the vault.

Understand the basic definitions used with PDMWorks.

Load the PDMWorks software.

Identify the principal components of the PDMWorks user interface.

Set user options.

Understand the local and vault views.

Check documents into the vault.

Check in referenced documents.

Change document revisions.

Create subprojects.

Bump revisions.

Change lifecycle status.

Create reports.
5

Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

The Four Pillars

of PDM

Product Data Management systems provide four basic functions:

Q
Q
Q

PDMWorks is an affordable workgroup data management solution

offering users a fully integrated, easy to deploy and use solution for
their most common data management tasks such as:

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What is the
PDMWorks
Software?

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Searching and sorting files.

Change control and sharing.
Secure vaulting and revisioning.
Tracking references. References are tracked both down (madefrom) and up (where-used).

Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q

Workgroup collaboration.
Controlling document access.
Searching for documents.
Determining document relationships.
Check-in/Check-out of documents from a vault.
Automated revision control.
Concurrent work by several users on projects.
History tracking.
Report generation.

It is for design teams who need to concurrently work on projects while

ensuring that design revisions as well as complex file relationships are
managed. It provides:
Q

Q
Q
Q

The Four Pillars of PDM

Fast search to eliminate time wasted searching through folders for

files.
Historical record of file changes that ensures you are always
working with the right revision.
Automatic management of complex file relationships.
Management for all file types including office documents.
Resources to show if someone else is already working on a file,
thereby ensuring that users wont be overwriting each others files.
All functions are completely within the design environment as
PDMWorks is an integral part of SolidWorks.
A system that only requires a minimal amount of administration.

Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

PDM Concepts and Document Check In

PDMWorks
Overview

PDMWorks provides a secure method of working. The basic

philosophy of PDMWorks is:
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q

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Files are stored in the vault.

Users have access to the vault.
Users Check Out or Open files from the vault.
All required files are copied to the users local work space.
The user works with the files locally thus gaining maximum speed.
Only changed files need to be Checked In to the vault thus
minimizing network traffic.
When users are finished with the files, they Check In changes and
then may release ownership, delete the local files or both.

te

The PDMWorks
Process

The process looks like this:

CHECK OUT / OPEN

1020 ASSY REV A

1000
A

1001
A

1002
A

1003
A

1004
A

1005
A

1006
A

1007
A

1008
A

1009
A

1010
A

1011
A

ALL FILES COPIED

TO LOCAL PC

1000
B

1006
B

1009
B

PDMWorks Vault

Local PC

1000
B

1006
B

REVISION LEVEL
INCREMENTS

CHECK IN CHANGED
FILES ONLY

1020 ASSY REV B

1009
B

PDMWorks Overview

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

PDMWorks
Components

PDMWorks is designed to run both natively inside of SolidWorks and

as a standalone application. PDMWorks has three components:

Vault

The vault is a directory (usually on a server) where documents are

stored in project directories. All data and file associations are
maintained in the vault.

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The vault administrator installs and maintains the vault

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The vault is protected from direct user access through permissions

within the operating system. All access to the vault must be through
PDMWorks.
VaultAdmin Tool

The VaultAdmin tool provides access for the PDMWorks administrator

to set up the system. Using the VaultAdmin tool, the administrator
creates users and projects, revision and lifecycle schemes, and
establishes global settings that affect all users.

PDMWorks Client

Client software is used by the general users, either inside SolidWorks

or as a standalone system, to access the PDMWorks functions. The
client software is used to check documents in and out, increment
revisions and lifecycle status, view information and create reports.

Web Portal Clients

The Web Portal provides web-based access to the vault. The Web Portal
allows user to view and print documents and create reports.

Stanalone Clients

SolidWorks Clients

/IP
TC

TC

/IP

Web Portal Clients

VaultAdmin
`
Vault

Vault Computer

`
Advanced Server

Internet
`

PDMWorks Components

Web Portal
(IIS)

API Programing

Lesson 1

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

PDM Concepts and Document Check In

In PDMWorks, there are some basic principles that need to be

understood.

File Names

Every file name must be unique. For example, there cannot be two
parts called Bracket.

Project Names

Both project names and project descriptions must also be completely

unique.

File Storage

Only one copy of a document is stored in the vault, no matter how

many other files reference it.

Revision Numbers

Revision numbers are established during PDMWorks installation and

the scheme is maintained by the vault administrator. Revision numbers
can only go forward, never backwards. Each revision of a document is
kept in the vault so you can open any version.

Ownership

When you have ownership of a document, you have the right to change
that document and then check the document into the vault. Only one
person can have ownership of a document at any time.

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Locking

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Basic Rules

A document is locked whenever someone has ownership of that

document. A locked document in the vault is protected from any user,
other than the owner, checking in a modified version of that document.

References

Attachments are logical links from non-SolidWorks documents to

either SolidWorks or other non-SolidWorks documents.

Attachments

References are logical links between different documents in the vault.

In the case of SolidWorks files, these references are automatic based on
the SolidWorks assembly hierarchy.

10

Basic Rules

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

The PDMWorks software uses three user interfaces. Inside SolidWorks,

PDMWorks is accessed through the Task Pane. When SolidWorks is
not running or not installed, PDMWorks can be used through the
Standalone Client. When access through the internet, the Web Portal
interface is used.

Starting
PDMWorks
Client

When PDMWorks is installed, the interface does not automatically

appear as part of the SolidWorks screen. It must be turned on.

Where to Find It

SolidWorks
User Interface

PDMWorks is tightly integrated into

SolidWorks through the Task Pane.

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From the Tools menu, select Add-Ins

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PDMWorks
User Interface

When PDMWorks is running, the File

Explorer will be split into two panes,
showing the Local View and the Vault
View.

Local View

Vault View

PDMWorks has its own help system that

loads when the add-in is loaded.

The help files shipped with PDMWorks are

in HTML Help format. This offers improved
search and display functions, as well as a
consistent look and feel with Microsofts
online help.

Getting Help

Where to Find It

PDMWorks User Interface

Click Help, PDMWorks Help Topics.

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Setting up
PDMWorks

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For this course, we are a

company that designs ink
jet printers as one of its
products. Our current
project is still in the
development stage. Until
now, the ink jet printer we
are designing has not yet
been entered into the
PDM system.

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

The PDMWorks vault has

been installed on a server and the Client software has been installed on
our computer.
The vault administrator has set up user accounts, projects, custom
properties, revision scheme and lifecycles. Other workgroups within
our company have entered some of their files into the PDMWorks
vault.
We will set up PDMWorks on our local machine and check in some of
the parts of our product.

Users Accounts

All PDMWorks users (clients) and vault administrators must be entered

into the system by a vault administrator before they have access to
PDMWorks.
The initial steps are done by a vault administrator before the system can
be used to vault documents.

Once the vault is in place and the vault administrator has

administratively made the system ready to use, we can begin entering
files into the vault. Our point of view will be that of one of the users
created by the administrator.
SolidWorks parts and assemblies that the user is responsible for will be
checked into the PDMWorks vault under the appropriate project.

Case Study:
Checking In
SolidWorks
Documents

12

Setting up PDMWorks

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Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Start SolidWorks.

Start PDMWorks.

PDMWorks is an add-in that must be

enabled.
Click Tools, Add-Ins.

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Click OK.

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Select PDMWorks 2006 from the list.

Login.

The login process requires us to

provide our user name,
password and vault location.
Rather than type our user name,
we can select from all available
user names recognized by
PDMWorks by clicking .

Type the vault location, then

click . If the vault is on your computer, you can type localhost
for the computer name.
The vault name (the name of the computer holding the vault) must be
entered before the
button will work.

Note

User.

We will log in as Bob White. Bob is

responsible for the electronics used
in the printer.
Select Bob White from the list.

Click OK.

Case Study: Checking In SolidWorks Documents

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Password.

Everyones default password is

the first thee letters of their first
name in lower case.
Type bob as the password.

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Click Login.

User Options

The user has a variety of options to control the default settings for
PDMWorks functions. These options can be overridden when checking
documents in or out, they just save time by having our normal choices
pre-selected.

Where to Find It

Right-click in the Vault View and select PDMWorks Options.

Or, click the
tool on the PDMWorks or PDMWorks Standalone
Client toolbar.

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User Options

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Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Set options.

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Right-click in the Vault View and select PDMWorks Options.

Set the Command defaults.

The Command defaults section contains the

options for checking in and checking out

documents.

For Check in options:

Select Retain ownership. Whenever we check in

a document, we will keep ownership of the file.
Clear Delete local copies. If it were checked, it
would delete the copies stored in our local work
space when we checked documents into the vault.
Clear Working copy default and Auto own on
select. We will normally bump revisions every time we check in a
document, so we will not normally save a working copy.
Select Include drawings. When we check in or check out parts and/or
assemblies, we want all the related drawings to be checked in as well.

User Options

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Clear Include COSMOS results. We can select COSMOS results later

on a case by case basis.
For Check out/Open options:
Select Select all references. When we check out or open a document
with references, we want all the reference files to be copied to our local
drive with the parent document.

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Clear Include drawings and Include attachments. If we need the

drawings or attachments, we can select them during the check out or
open process.
Select Latest versions under Retrieve references. If we open an
assembly, we want the latest version of all the parts and sub-assemblies
it references.
For Change ownership:

Select Smart dialog. This will allow us to include referenced files

(children) when changing ownership of parent files.

Set vault comparison.

Select File on disk. When we make changes to

files, we are changing the copy in RAM. The

copy on disk is not updated until we click Save.
We want the vault to compare its contents to the saved copies of our
files, not the copy in RAM.
Select Show in local view. This will enable the comparison icons in
the Local View.

Tree view.
Select My Documents and My Computer under
Show in local tree view. This will add these paths

to the File Explorer.

10 Document ranges.
Type 3 for Documents per range.

This will control the number of

documents shown under each project.
11 Default folder.

Set the path to a folder where PDMWorks to copy files from the vault.
Select Use folder, then Browse. Create a folder C:\Working and
click OK.
Create another folder C:\Working\Temporary Viewing
Files. This is where PDMWorks will save preview images.

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User Options

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

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The administrator gave everyone easy to

remember passwords to start. Each user should
change their password when they first log in.

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12 Change Bobs password.

Click Change.

Bobs old password was bob.

Type robin for his new password.

Click OK.

13 Exit the options.

Click OK to exit the user options.
14 Logout.

There is an error at this point because Bob is still logged on with his old
password. After changing your password, you must logout of
PDMWorks and then log back in.
Right-click in the Vault View and select Logout. Click OK to confirm
that you are logging out.

15 Log in.

Right-click in the Vault View and select PDMWorks Login.

Click

and select Bob White from the list. Click OK.

Type robin for the password.

Click Login.

16 Open the printer assembly.

Open the assembly

ink_jet_top_assy from
the Lesson01\Case
Study\Ink Jet
Printer directory.
Open all reference

documents when asked and

rebuild if required.

User Options

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17 The PDMWorks
interface.

Local View

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In the Local View,

the My PDMWorks
Documents
directory is the
directory we set in
the PDMWorks
options.

Local
View

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With PDMWorks
active, the File
Explorer has two
panes. The top pane
is the Local View
and the lower pane
is the Vault View.

Vault
View

The Local View shows the local drives just as they would appear in the
Windows Explorer.
There is also a SolidWorks icon
to show which files are open in
SolidWorks and which files need to be save.
The Local View is compared against the vault and the status of the
documents on the local drive are shown by status icons.

Vault View

The Vault View shows the contents of the PDMWorks vault. It is

organized like the FeatureManager design tree.
Each project is color coded to show the users level of access.
Orange - Read Only access

Black - Write and Read access

Blue - Not Revision managed

Gray - No access

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

18 Electronic parts.

Because Bob is the designer of

the electronics for the printer,
he will check in his parts and
assemblies to the
Electronics project.

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In the FeatureManager design

tree, right-click the assembly MB10172001-A1 found under the
assembly SUB10042001_01.
Click Open Assembly. This is the motherboard assembly for the
printer.

19 Open integrated circuit part.

In the FeatureManager design tree, rightclick the part ic05.sldprt and click
Open Part.

Click the File Explorer tab

the Task Pane.

Document
Check In
Process

to show

The process of checking in a document saves a copy of the file to the

vault. The vault is only accessible to users through PDMWorks.
Once the document is checked in, PDMWorks will control user access
to the file, revisioning, and lifecycle status.

Introducing:
Check In Active
Document

Check In Active Document will check in the document currently

Where to Find It

active in SolidWorks.

Right-click in the Vault View and select Check In Active

Document.

Or, click

in the PDMWorks toolbar.

20 Check in the part.

In the Vault View, right-click the project Electronic components

and select Check In Active Document.
The project Electronic components is found under General
Projects, Ink Jet Printer (top level).

Note

The project may be named Electronics instead of Electronic

components depending on settings which we will discuss shortly.

Document Check In Process

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21 Save.

If documents need to be saved, PDMWorks will warn us to save the

document before it is checked in.
Click OK.

When a document is checked in, we have the option of adding

additional information to the file properties, notes and setting the
revision increment.

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Check In Options

Document Options

This section provides information about the current document and its
status.

File name
SolidWorks Part
Not in the vault
Delete local copy?
Retain ownership
Check in

File Properties

Revision
Scheme

PDMWorks properties such as Revision, Project and Lifecycle, plus

file properties are added directly into this table. The number of
properties is set by the vault administrator.

PDMWorks can accommodate a revision scheme with three levels and

a working copy level.
Revision schemes are displayed as follows:

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Revision Scheme

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Primary
separator

Secondary
separator

Dev.01.A+

Working
copy

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Primary Secondary Tertiary

level
level
level

Lifecycle

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The revision scheme for our company uses a dash (-), then the letters A
through Z for the primary level and 01 to 99 for the secondary level.
The allowed values depend on the lifecycle.
A lifecycle is used to indicate the status or the document (i.e.,
prototype, checking, released, or obsolete). Lifecycles provide a simple
method to change file ownership and revisions rules. Lifecycle
categories and rules are established and enabled by the vault
administrator.
In our company we use five lifecycles:
Q
Q
Q

In Design
Released
Obsolete

Q
Q

Pending
ECO

The first lifecycle is In Design. While the lifecycle status of a

document is In Design, only the secondary level of the revision
scheme is used. Revisions start at -.01 and may go to -.99.

22 Options.

We intend to keep working on this part, so we want to retain the copy

on our local drive. We also do not want anyone else to make changes to
the part so we want to keep ownership.

Select the header Options.

Lifecycle

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We set our options so that Delete Local copy should be cleared and
Retain ownership should be selected.

23 Revision number.

The first revision number in the revision scheme (-.01) is displayed and
will be assigned to this part once it is checked in.

24 Lifecycle.

The first lifecycle status in our system (In Design) is set by default.
Because our project is still in development, we will enter this part into
the vault in the In Design status.

25 Current document.

The number and description fields are free form fields generally used to
add the part number and a longer description of the file than is provided
in the file name. Values can be typed directly into a cell, or the cell can
be selected and the value typed in the box at the top.
Select the cell under the heading Number. Type IC05-36787 in the
field. Select the cell under Description and type Image
controller in the Description field at the top, then click Apply.

Because we selected the Electronic components project when

we opened the Check In Active Document dialog box, it is already
listed in the Project list.

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Lifecycle

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Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

26 Add file properties.

Several additional file properties can be added during check in. Use the
scroll bar to view the addition properties. Select the cell under
DrawnBy and type B. White for the Value.
Select the cell under Note and type Initial check in.
27 Check In.
Click Check In.

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To make sure that the

document is going to the
correct project, confirm
Electronic
components by clicking
OK.

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Notes can have more than one line of text.

Note

28 Vault View.

The Vault View now shows the addition of

this part to the project.

The check mark in the magenta circle

indicates that the part is owned by you (Bob White).

Lifecycle

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29 Review the file properties.

Click File, Properties and select the Custom tab.

The properties Number, Description, Revision, Project and

DrawnBy have been added to the file properties.
Additional file properties were also added even though they had no
values.

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Click OK to close the dialog box.

If all parts and assemblies had to be checked in individually, it could

take a long time to get a single product such as the Ink Jet Printer into
the system.
Whenever we check in a document that references other documents, we
can check everything in at once.

Checking in
References

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Checking in References

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

30 Motherboard assembly.

Make the window with assembly

MB10172001-A1 active.

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There are twenty-nine unique parts

and one sub-assembly included in the
motherboard assembly. We will check
them all in at one time.

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Click Tools, Assembly Statistics.

Click OK.

31 Check in the assembly.

In the Vault View, select the project

Electronic Components. Click

on the PDMWorks toolbar.

32 Add assembly properties.

Type MB10172001 for the Number and Motherboard assembly

for the Description.

33 Resize the dialog box.

Resize the dialog box so you can see all the rows in the References
area.

34 Assembly references.

All the references for the motherboard assembly are listed. Each file
with the white star in a green circle is a reference file that is not yet
in the vault. By default all of these files are selected so that they will be
checked in with the assembly.

Checking in References

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

The file ic05.sldprt is not checked and shows the equal icon.
This means that there is a copy in the vault and it is the same as the one
on our local drive.

For each file, Retain ownership

local copy
should be cleared.

should be selected and Delete

35 Revision and Lifecycle.

Use the default revision -.01 and the lifecycle In Design for all
files.

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

36 Add a note.

We want to add the note Initial check in to all the files being checked
in. Click the column heading Note. The entire column will highlight. In
the Note (29) box at the top, type Initial check in. The (29)
shows how many files will get the note applied.

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Click Apply.

Checking in References

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37 Check In.

While we could add additional file properties to the referenced files, we

will just check them all in the way they are.
Click Check In.
Click OK to confirm that the documents are going to the project
Electronic components.

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38 Warning.

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We have not added values to all the Number and Description cells. We
could add them now through the check in process or we can add them
later through other means. We will wait until later.
Click OK.

39 The Vault View.

The Vault View now shows the entire

motherboard assembly including all the
parts and the sub-assembly.

Because the Vault View shows the

relationships between files, ic05 is
correctly listed under the motherboard
assembly (MB10172001-A1).

Local View

The Local View provides the status of files in our local work space
compared to the vault. Each file in the local work space will have an
icon in front of it to show how it compares to the vault.
White line through a blue circle - Document does not exist in the
vault.
White upward arrow within a green circle - Document is newer than
the vault.
White downward arrow within a red circle - Document is older than
the vault.

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

White equal sign within a gray circle - Document is the same as the
vault.
White star in green circle - New document or new document
reference.
SolidWorks icon - Documents open in SolidWorks.

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Hollow icons - Document is loaded in memory but not in an open

window.

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Solid icons -Document is loaded in memory and open in a

window.

- Documents listed in bold text indicate that the

items need to be saved.

40 Local View.

In the Local View, find the folder

C:\SolidWorks 2005 Training
Files\PDMWorks\Lesson01\
Case Study\Ink Jet
Printer\mainboard.

The
icon shows that all these files on
our local drive are the same as the files
in the vault.

Checking in References

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Vault Display

The Vault View can be customized to display different labels for each
project and document.
Projects can be listed by either their name or description.
Documents in the vault can be displayed with different labels to obtain
information about the document without having to open it.

Introducing:
Change Display

Change display controls the labels displayed for documents shown in

Where to Find It

Right-click in the Vault View and select Display Labels With, then
Select.
Or, click
on the Vault View or PDMWorks Standalone Client
toolbar.

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Introducing:
Display Labels

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the Vault View and the display of the project name or description.

Right-click in the Vault View and select Display Labels With.

Where to Find It

Each document in the vault may be displayed with up to seven labels.

By default Document Name and Revision are displayed. Number,
Description, Status, Owner and one custom property may be
added.

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

41 Change Display.

Right-click in the Vault View and select

Display Labels With, then Select.
In Document labels, select Owner.
Click OK.

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Before:

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For Project labels, select Actual name.

After:

42 Display labels.

Right-click in the Vault View and select Display Labels

With.
Clear Owner.

The Owner label is no longer

displayed.

Users may log on to any computer that has the client software installed.
They are not tied to a single machine.

Where to Find It

Logging In/Out

Logging In/Out

Right-click in the Vault View and select PDMWorks Login or

Logout.
Click PDMWorks Login
or PDMWorks Logout
on the
PDMWorks toolbar.

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43 Logout.

We are going to change users here by logging out as Bob White and
logging back in as Jane Doe.
Right-click in the Vault View and select Logout.
Click OK.

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Right-click in the Vault View

and select PDMWorks Login.

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44 Login.

Click
and select Jane Doe
from the list.
Type Janes password jan.
Click Login.

Bind Ownership

PDMWorks has the option to bind ownership to SolidWorks read-write/

read-only access.
When this option is selected, making a change to the read/write status
of a file in SolidWorks affects the ownership of the file in PDMWorks.
Conversely, changing ownership in PDMWorks affects the read/write
status of the file in SolidWorks.
Q

If you take ownership in PDMWorks, you have read/write access in

SolidWorks.
If you take write access in SolidWorks, you have ownership in
PDMWorks. If another user has ownership, you are not allowed to
take write access.
If you release ownership in PDMWorks, you have read-only access
in SolidWorks.
If you make a document read-only in SolidWorks, ownership is
released in PDMWorks.

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45 PDMWorks Message.

The administrative settings for our companys vault bind the

SolidWorks read/write access to PDMWorks ownership. Because Bob
White owns the files that we have open in SolidWorks, the
Motherboard files will be read-only for Jane Doe.
Click OK to clear the message.

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46 Read-Only access.

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Notice that the Windows title bar shows that the Motherboard is readonly. Click File, Find References from the menu. Notice that all the
referenced files are also read-only.
Click Close.

47 Project access.

When logged in as Jane, project

access is different from Bob.

Bob White

Jane only has read access to the

Electronics component project
so it is displayed in orange. She
has write access to the Ink
cartridge project so it is black.

Checked Out Icon

Jane Doe

The Vault View shows which documents are checked out with a check
mark in a colored circle. The color of the circle indicates if the
document is checked out by the current user or someone else.

Cyan circle - Checked out by another user.

Magenta circle - Checked out by current user.

Logging In/Out

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48 Open the assembly.

Open the assembly

IF10152001-A1. This is the
Ink Cartridge.

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Jane is responsible for the Ink

Cartridge and is going to check in
her assembly. Unlike the
electronics components, some of
parts for the ink cartridge have
been revised several times and
are no longer considered to be at
the base revision number. Jane will bump the revision numbers as she
checks in the parts.

49 Check In the assembly.

Click File, Save and PDMWorks Check In.

Click Yes to resolve any unresolved components.

50 Check In the drawings.

In addition to the parts and sub-assembly files, Jane will check in the
drawings for the assembly and parts.
Click Drawings.

51 Select the search path.

As these files have never been checked into the vault, the current
location of the drawings should be found using the SolidWorks search
path.
Clear Look in and select Look in SolidWorks search path.

Click Find Now.

For more information about SolidWorks search paths, see the

SolidWorks File Management training manual.

Note

52 PDMWorks message.

PDMWorks reports that it has found four drawings. Click OK.

The four drawings are now listed under the files they reference.
53 Add properties.

Type IF10152001 for the Number and Ink Cartridge

assembly for Description.

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54 Select project.

Because we used the SolidWorks File menu to start the check in

process, we did not preselect a project for these files.
Select the column header Project. This selects all the files.

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Use the pull-down list for Project (16) to select the Ink Cartridge
project.

55 Add a note.

For all the files, add the note: Initial check in.

Logging In/Out

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Properties for
Individual Parts

When checking in an assembly and all its referenced parts, individual

parts may need to have revision numbers that are different from the
assembly or other parts. Some parts may need to have their number and
description properties entered. These properties can be added to any
file in the reference list.
56 Change part properties.

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Because the part inkcartridge.sldprt does not yet have a part

number, Jane wants to add a description before it is checked into the
vault.
Select the Description cell for the inkcartridge.
Type Ink Cartridge for the Description.

57 Change revision.

Before being entered into the vault, this part had three revisions. The
part as it currently exists is really the fourth revision.
Select the Revision cell and edit the revision number to -.04.

Click Apply.

Note

36

When typing a new revision number, it must be consistent with the

revision and lifecycle schemes.

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58 Existing properties.

Scroll to the right in the Check In Document box. Many of the parts
have file properties for Cost and Material. These properties are
maintained with the files when checked into the vault.
59 Check in.

The part inkcartridge now has the correct number and revision.
Click Check In.

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Confirm that Delete local copy is cleared for all the files.

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Click OK for the warning about missing numbers and descriptions.

Click OK to confirm these documents are going to the Ink
Cartridge project.

60 Vault View.

The vault shows that the

assembly, all the parts,
drawings and the subassembly are in the correct
project.

Drawings are listed under their

model.

Creating Subprojects

Where to Find It

Logging In/Out

Sub-projects can be added by users if permission is granted by the vault

administrator.
Q

Right-click on the parent project and select Create SubProject

from the list.

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61 Create sub-project.

Jane wants a sub-project under Ink Cartridge

to hold the ink tanks.

Type Tanks for Name and Ink Tanks for

Description.

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Click OK.

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Right-click the Ink Cartridge project in the

Vault View and select Create SubProject.

This sub-project will have the same permissions as its parent, Ink
Cartridges.

Note

Change Project

Documents can easily be moved between projects.

Introducing:
Change Project

Change Project allows a user, with ownership, to move a file from one

Where to Find It

project to another without opening the file.

Right-click the document in the Vault View and select Change

Project.
Or, select
on the PDMWorks Standalone Client toolbar.

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Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

62 Change project.

Right-click the
inkcartridge.sldprt in the
Vault View and select Change Project.
Select Tanks from the list.

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Click OK.

If this had been an assembly, we could move all the referenced

documents at the same time.

Note

63 Vault View.

The part inkcartridge has

moved to the Tanks
Cartridges project but it also
still appears in the project Ink
Cartridge.

Multi-selection

Multiple documents can be selected for certain operations. To select a

several documents, press and hold the Control key while selecting. To
select a series of sequential documents, select the first document, then
press the Shift key while selecting the last document in the sequence.
Multiple selection supports the following commands:
Q
Q
Q
Q

Logging In/Out

Take Ownership
Release Ownership
Add Attachment
Change Project

Q
Q
Q
Q

Delete
Hide Project
Open/Checkout
Bump Revision

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Links

When documents are checked into the vault, PDMWorks maintains

only a single copy of that file in the vault. In the Vault View, we see
documents and their references, similar to the FeatureManager design
tree. In other words, if a part is used in different assemblies, the Vault
View must show it in each of those assemblies.

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This part is in this project.

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To show that a document is not actually saved in a project, its icon has
a link or shortcut symbol.

This part is in a different project but referenced by a document in

this project.

64 Open the printer assembly.

The group supervisor, Jim Jones,

wants to get the entire printer into
PDMWorks even if the parts and
sub-assemblies are not initially in
the correct project. He knows they
can be moved later.

Press Ctrl+Tab to switch the active

window to the assembly Ink_jet_top_assy.sldasm.

65 Change Login.

Click

on the PDMWorks toolbar and Logout as Jane Doe.

Click
on the PDMWorks toolbar and Log in as Jim Jones
(password: jim).

66 Check In assembly.

Right-click the project Printer and select Check In Active

Document.

Type IP10112001 for Number and Top assembly for

Description.

In the references section, PDMWorks has preselected all references that

have not yet been checked in or are not externally referenced
assemblies.
PDMWorks will check in files that are suppressed, lightweight, base
parts, and externally referenced components (except externally
referenced assemblies).

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Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

When you check in an assembly or part documents, you can also check
in their related drawing documents and COSMOS analysis result files.
If the drawings are not in the same folders as their models, you can
specify the folders for Referenced Documents in SolidWorks File
Locations options. For more information on setting Referenced
Documents locations, see the training course: SolidWorks File
Management.

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The path to the COSMOS analysis result files are stored in the
SolidWorks file.

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All files in black text with the white star have either not yet been
checked into the vault or are a new reference to the assembly.

All files in gray text with the white star are external references
(generally because they are external referenced assemblies) and will
not be checked in.
All files with the white equal sign are already checked in and
referenced. These should be all the files we checked in during the
previous steps.

Add the note Initial check in to all files. Click Check In.

Logging In/Out

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Reporting

Obtaining information about documents that are in the vault can be

done through the PDMWorks Reporting feature. Essentially all
information stored in the vault about a document can be displayed in
the report.

Where to Find It

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Right-click a project or document in the Vault View and select

Reporting.
Or, select a project or document in the Vault View and click
on
the Vault toolbar.

67 Create a report.

To get a more complete report on what has been entered into the vault,
create a report. Right-click the Printer project in the Vault View and
select Reporting.
The Output window shows the information for the item selected in the
top Vault View window. There are many items in the output window
that are not in view. The entire window can be resized or you can scroll
to the right to see the additional items.

The bottom of the window shows that there are a total of 179 items in
the Ink Jet Printer project.

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Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

68 Update report.

Once the report window is open, you can select a different project or
document in the top pane.
Select assembly IF10152001-A1 in the Ink Cartridge project.
To update the output window, click Update.

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Selecting Automatic will cause the report to update automatically

whenever a new file or project is selected.

69 Close the Reporting window.

Smart Dialog
Boxes

Smart dialog boxes allow changes made to a parent document to be

applied to all the children.
Smart dialog boxes are enabled in the user options.

Take/Release
Ownership

Reporting

Document ownership can be taken or released directly from the vault

without opening the file(s). To take ownership of a document, it can not
be owned by someone else.

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Where to Find It

In the Vault View, right-click the document and select Take

Ownership or Release Ownership.
Or, click
to take ownership or
to release ownership on the
PDMWorks Standalone Client toolbar.

70 Release file ownership.

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Because Jim Jones is not the person that will be working on all of these
documents, he needs to disown (release ownership) all the files he
currently owns in the Printer project. He could have disowned the
files when he checked them into the vault by selecting
under the
Options header which would have changed the icon to .

Right-click the ink_jettop_assy and select Release

Ownership.

The Smart Dialog allows us to not

only release ownership of the
selected file, but all referenced
documents as well.
Select Documents children and
All children.
Click Disown.

All of the documents in the

Ink Jet Printer project
that had been owned by Jim
Jones are now owned by no
one.

44

71 Logout as Jim Jones.

Right-click in the Vault View and select Logout.

Reporting

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Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Renaming
Documents

Files may be initially checked into the vault with descriptive file
names. Once part numbers are assigned, the files already in the vault
may be changed to the correct part number.

Introducing:
Rename

Rename will rename files already in the vault and maintain all existing

relationships.

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Only the document owner may change the document name. The person
renaming a file must also own all parent documents.

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For clients to be able to rename documents, the vault administrator

must enable this option.
Where to Find It

Right-click a document in the Vault View and select Rename.

72 Rename the inkcartridge part.

The inkcartridge part was initially checked into the vault before a part
number was assigned. Once a part number is assigned, the name of the
part already in the vault must be changed.
Jane Doe is responsible for the inkcartridge. Log in as Jane Doe.
In the Vault View, right-click the part
inkcartridge.sldprt. Click Rename.
Type the new file name IK10142001. Press Enter.

73 PDMWorks Question.

Because PDMWorks is organized by file relationships, it will update all

references to this file. To make sure you understand that all references
to this file in the vault will be updated, you must confirm by answering
the question.
Click Yes.

Both the file in the Tanks project

and the link in the Ink Cartridge
project update to the new file name.

Reporting

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Lifecycle Status

Lifecycles provide a simple method to change owner and revision

rules. Lifecycle categories and rules are established and enabled by the
vault administrator.

Introducing: Change
Lifecycle Status

Lifecycle status can be updated directly from the vault. You must own a
document to change its lifecycle and permission must be granted by the
vault administrator.

Where to Find It

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Status.

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Right-click the file in the Vault View and select Change Lifecycle

74 View lifecycle status.

Right-click in the Vault View and select

Display Labels With.

Click Status.

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Lesson 1
PDM Concepts and Document Check In

Because the Ink Cartridge

assembly is ready to be released
to manufacturing, Jane will
change the lifecycle to Pending.
Within our company, the lifecycle
Pending is used while a
document is being reviewed
pending release to manufacturing.

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Right-click the assembly

IF10152001-A1 in the Ink
Cartridge project of the Vault
View and select Change
Lifecycle Status.

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75 Change the lifecycle status.

Select Pending from the list and select Documents children and All
Children.
We have one linked file in this assembly. We also want the linked file
IK10142001 to also change status. Clear Do not change if document
is a link.
Click OK.

76 View the results.

The Vault View shows that the lifecycle status has changed to
Pending. The new lifecycle status also caused two other changes, the
files changed to Read-only and Jane is no longer the owner.
Right-click in the Vault View and select Display labels with, the select
Owner.

Each lifecycle status has a separate set of rules that control the
ownership and read/write permissions.

Reporting

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PDM Concepts and Document Check In

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77 Save and close all open files.

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Exercise 1:
Check In an
Assembly

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In this exercise we will explore the

PDMWorks User Interface and check
in an assembly.

Start SolidWorks.

Start PDMWorks.
Click Tool, Add ins and select PDMWorks.

Log In to PDMWorks.

Two student accounts have been

set up, student1 and student2.
Both have a default password of
stu.
Click
on the PDMWorks
toolbar and log in as student1.
The Vault Server is localhost.

Open assembly.

Open the assembly tool vise from the

Lesson01\Exercises\Tool Vise folder.

Create a user workspace.

Use Windows Explorer to create a folder named C:\Working.

This will be our default directory when we open files from the vault.

Set user options.

Because this is our first time starting PDMWorks, we need to set the
options to our preferences.

Right-click in the Vault View and select PDMWorks Options.

Set the Default Save in folder to C:\Working.
7

Change your password.

The PDMWorks administrator gave every student the default password.

Click Change.
Type a new password (twice) then click OK.

Exercise 1

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Set the remaining options.

Set the remaining options as shown.

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Click OK.

Logout and log in

Before you can perform any actions in PDMWorks, you must logout,
then log in with the new password.
Right-click the part Saddle and
select Open Part.

10 Open a part.

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11 File Explorer.

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The Local View shows all

the parts with the icon
indicating that they are not
checked into the vault.

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In the File Explorer,

browse to the Tool Vise
folder.

12 Check in the Saddle.

In the Vault View, right-click the project Tool vise and select Check

In Active Document.

The Tool vise project is located under the project Student

project.

13 Set document properties.

Add the following information to both the part and the drawing:
Q
Q

Number: 410P34000
Description: Saddle

Select Retain Ownership and clear Delete local copy.

14 Add a note.

Type the note Initial check in.

Exercise 1

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15 Set Revision.

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The first revision number available is -.01. Leave the revision as -.01.

16 Check In.
Click Check In then OK to

confirm that the Saddle

and drawing are being
checked into the Tool
vise project.

The Local View shows the

icon for the Saddle
part and drawing
indicating they are the
same as the vault.

The Vault View shows that

the Saddle and its drawing are
checked in to the Tool Vise project
and you are the owner as indicated by
the
icons.
17 Check in the assembly.

Change the active window to the tool vise assembly.

Click File, Save and PDMWorks Check In.
Add the following file properties to the tool vise assembly:
Q
Q

52

Number: 900A45000
Description: Tool Vise assembly

Exercise 1

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

All the referenced files are listed with the icon showing that they are
not in the vault. The exceptions are the Saddle part and drawing
because they are already checked in.
Add the note: Initial check in to all files being checked in.
Select the header Project. Select the project Tool vise.

Click Check In.

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Confirm that Retain ownership is selected and Delete local copy is

cleared for all the files.

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Click OK to the warning that there are missing numbers and

descriptions.

Click OK to confirm the parts are being checked in to the Tool vise.
project.

Exercise 1

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18 Check result.

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The Local View now shows that all the parts, drawings and the
assembly are checked in with the icon.

The Vault View shows all the parts, drawings and the assembly in the
Tool Vise project.

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Exercise 1

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Exercise 2:
Sub-projects

The entire assembly was added to a project call Tool vise. To make
the structure easier to see in the vault we will add some sub-projects
and then move some of the parts into them.
1

Create a sub-project.

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Type Structure for the Project

name.

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In the Vault View, right-click the

project Tool vise and select
Create SubProject.

Type core parts for the

Description.

Click OK.

Remember that each and every project and project description must be
unique. There cannot be another project description named core
parts.

Note

If you need another description of core parts, you can use

core_parts, core-parts, or core parts_.

Tip

Create another sub-project.

Create another sub-project of the Tool Vise.

Q
Q

Permissions

Name: Locking
Description: locking device

Each of these sub-projects has the same user permissions as the parent
project. Changes to the permissions must be made thought the
VaultAdmin tool by an administrator.

Change the Vault View display.

Right-click anywhere in the Vault View

and select Display Labels With, then
Select.

Exercise 2

Select Actual Name for Project labels.

Click OK.

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Change a parts project.

Right-click the Saddle part in the

Vault View and select Change Project.
Select Structure from the list.

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Click OK.

Review the results.

The Saddle is now

in the sub-project
Structure. It is
also listed, as a link,
under the parent
project, Tool
Vise, because it is
referenced by the
Tool Vise
assembly.

Notice that the

Saddle drawing did
not move. If we had
selected Children in
the Smart Dialog
box, we could have
moved the drawing
when we moved the
part.

Move drawing.

Move the Saddle drawing to the Structure sub-project.

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Exercise 2

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Move remaining parts.

Change the following parts and their drawings to the sub-projects

indicated. Use multiple select to select more than one file at a time to
move.

Q
Q
Q

upper compound member

compound center member
tool holder

Locking
Q
Q
Q

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upper plate
lower plate
eccentric
locking handle

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Structure

Review the results.

When done, the Vault

View should look like
this.

Exercise 2

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Change the Vault View display.

The Vault View is displaying the project

names rather than the project
descriptions.

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Select Descriptive Name for Project

labels.

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Right-click anywhere in the Vault View

and select Display Labels With, then
Select.

For Document labels select Owner.

Click OK.

10 The Vault View.

The Vault View now shows the descriptive name rather than the actual
project name, and each file shows the name of the owner.

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

11 The Local View.

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The Saddle and tool vise

assembly have colored icons
indicating that they are open in
active windows.

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The SolidWorks icon

at the
top of the Local View shows
which parts are loaded in memory
and which parts are open in a
window.

The remaining parts have hollow

icons
indicating they are in memory but not open in their own
window.

12 Release ownership.

As long as we have ownership of

these files, no one else can modify
them.
In the Vault View, right-click the
tool vise assembly and select
Release Ownership.

Select Documents children and

All children.

Most of the parts in this assembly have links to the sub-projects and we
want to release ownership of all of the parts. Clear Do not change
ownership if document is a link.

Click Disown.

Exercise 2

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Exercise 3:
Information
From the Vault

Once there are documents in the vault, there is a lot of information we

can obtain about each document.
Reports provide a quick and simple way to gather information from the
vault.
1

Create a simple report.

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In the Vault View, right-click the tool vise assembly and select
Reporting.

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This basic report gives us information about the file we selected and its
references in a hierarchal form.

Examine the report.

The report has more columns than can easily be fit on the screen. Scroll
the Output window to the right to see the remaining columns.
3

Set output options.

Before exporting the report information, the user options must be set
for the output file.
Close the Reporting window.
Right-click in the Vault View and select PDMWorks Options.

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Exercise 3

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Output file defaults.

Set the Output file defaults as shown.

Click OK to save the changes.

5

Create the report.

Export the report.

Click Output To File.

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Create the report for the Tool Vise

assembly as we did before.

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Save the file to the Exercises\Tool Vise directory.

Name the file Tool Vise and save it as a text file.

Open the report text file.

Start Notepad and open the Tool Vise.txt file.

The text file contains all the information from the report but it is
difficult to read because of the extra unneeded columns. In Lesson 3 we
will learn how to customize the output to make it easier to read.

Exercise 3

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Close Notepad.

Close the Reporting window.

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10 Close all open SolidWorks files.

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Exercise 3

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 2
Accessing Documents

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Q

Understand opening, taking ownership of and checking out

documents.

Use the Preview Window.

Display document information for files in the vault.

Check documents out of the vault.

Search for documents in the vault.

Update local and vault views.

Update drawing revision tables during check in.

Check in non-SolidWorks documents.

Create attachments to files in the vault.

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Accessing Documents

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Lesson 2
Accessing Documents

Working on
Vaulted
Documents

After documents are checked into the vault, they have to be checked
out to be able to do further work. There is one overriding principle that
must be understood:
You never work directly on the documents in the vault.

Procedure

To work on documents that have been checked into the vault:

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User takes ownership of the documents.

Documents are copied to a local workspace.
User makes changes to the documents.
Documents are checked back into the vault, bumping the revision.

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1.
2.
3.
4.
Take Ownership

Ownership of a document is important as only one person can own a

file. Only the person who owns the file can check a document into the
vault or change its revision.

Open Document

Opening a document from the vault copies the file to a directory of our
choosing (our local workspace), then opens it in its application. Any
version of a file can be copied from the vault and opened.

Check Out

Checking out a document is the combination of both taking ownership

and opening a document. Only the latest version of the part can be
checked out.

Check Out = Take Ownership + Open Document

Methods of
Opening/Checking
Out Files

Files can be opened or checked out from the vault by a variety of

methods.
From SolidWorks:

From the Vault View: right-click the file and select either Open/

Check Out Document.

Drag a file from the Vault View to the SolidWorks window.

Click File, Open then select the PDMWorks Vault in the left pane
of the Open dialog box. Browse the vault and select the file to be
opened. You can only open the most recent version of the file.

From the Standalone Client:

Q

Right-click the file in the Vault View and select either Open/Check
Out Document.
Select the file in the Vault View and select Open/Check Out
on
the PDMWorks toolbar.

From the Web Portal:

Q

Select the file in the Vault View and select Open

Portal toolbar.

Working on Vaulted Documents

on the Web

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Accessing Documents

Note

You can only open documents with the Web Portal. You cannot take
ownership, therefore you cannot check out files.

Preview Window

When searching through the Vault View or Local View for a particular
file, finding the correct file can be easier if we see a preview. The
preview window provides an image of the file as it was last saved.

Where to Find It

Right-click in either the Local View or Vault View and select

Preview Window.

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Document
Information

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Each configuration and revision can be viewed.

Information stored in the file and in PDMWorks can be displayed

directly from the Vault View. This information can be displayed
without opening or checking out the file.

Where to Find It

Mode-less Dialogs

Right-click a document in the Vault View and select Document

Information.
Or, click
on the PDMWorks Standalone Client toolbar.

Both the preview window and the document information window are
mode-less. That is, they can stay open as you select different files.

Login.

For this next operation, we will log in as Brian Hursch. Brian is

responsible for the paper transport mechanism of the printer.
Right-click the Vault View and select PDMWorks Login.

Select Brian Hursch from the list. Brians password is bri.

Preview Window.

Right-click in the Vault View and select

Preview Window.

Select the assembly IF10152001-A1

in the Ink Cartridge project.

Note

66

Preview images are created when the document is saved. It is always a

good idea to go to a preset view like Isometric or select zoom to fit
before saving.

Working on Vaulted Documents

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 2
Accessing Documents

Document information.

In the Vault View, right-click the assembly IF10152001-A1 and

select Document Information.

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If you are frequently searching for files, both the Preview Window and
Document Information window can be left open. PDMWorks user
options can be set to remember the position of the window.

These are the file properties stored with the file itself.

Properties

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The Document Information window provides a quick way to get

information on a specific document.

History/Notes

A listing of all vault transactions dealing with this file. This is the
record of who touched the file and what they did with it.

Working on Vaulted Documents

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The following events are recorded in the History/Notes:

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Accessing Documents

Q
Q
Q

Q
Q
Q

Change Project
Bump Revision
Change Property

Check In and Check Out

Take Ownership
Release Ownership
Change Lifecycle Status

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Lesson 2
Accessing Documents

Which other files are referenced by this file.

Where Used

Attachments

Which files use this file.

Any document attached to the current document.

The configurations of this file.

Configurations

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References

Working on Vaulted Documents

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Accessing Documents

The two dimensional preview.

View

If eDrawings is loaded, the three dimensional preview is available.

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Preview Picture

References and Where Used are not search functions like they are in

Note

SolidWorks Explorer. They are both database functions that are kept up
to date as files are checked into the vault.

Close the Document Information window.

Close the Preview Window.

User options.

Click
7

on the PDMWorks toolbar to open the user options.

The save in folder.

To work on a document that is in the vault, we make a copy of it in our

local work space. The Save in folder is the default path.
In Lesson 1, the Save in folder was set to C:\Working.
8

Create a temporary viewing files folder.

When PDMWorks is installed, this temporary viewing files folder will

be created. This folder contains the images to be used in the different
preview windows. It can be cleared using the Delete Temporary
Viewing Files button.
In Lesson 1, the Temporary viewing files folder was set to

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C:\Working\Temporary Viewing Files.

Select the Working directory in the Local View.

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Click OK to close the PDMWorks Options.

It should be empty except for the Temporary View Files folder.

If the Working directory is not empty, delete any files in the directory.

Searching for
Documents

As the number of documents in the vault increases, locating a specific

document becomes significantly more difficult. PDMWorks has two
different search tools, one for the Local View and one for the Vault
View.

Introducing:
Find in Vault

From the Local View, Find in vault locates all instances of the file and
provides a search results list. Selecting an instance in the search results
list highlights the file in the Vault View.

Where to Find It

Q
Q

Introducing:
Find/Search

Right-click a file in the Local View and select Find in vault.

Or, select a file in the Local View and click
on the PDMWorks
Standalone Client toolbar.

Find/Search can be used to search the vault with either the simplified

search criteria or an advanced search similar to advanced search in

SolidWorks assemblies.

Simple searches can be used to search the vault for a single property
such as document name, number, owner, description, revision, or
display information.
Advanced search allows the use of multiple search criteria with
numerical and text string operators.
Numeric operators:
Q
Q
Q

= equal
< less than
<= less than or equal

Q
Q

not =
>=

not equal
greater than or equal

Text string operators:

Q
Q
Q

Searching for Documents

is (exactly)
contains
is empty

Q
Q
Q

is not
does not contain
is not empty

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Where to Find It

Q
Q
Q

Right-click anywhere in the Vault View and select Find/Search.

Or, click
in the Vault toolbar.
Or, click in the Vault View and click
on the PDMWorks
Standalone Client toolbar.
Or, click
on the Web Portal toolbar.

10 Search for an assembly.

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We want to check out an assembly named SUB10042001_01 to

replace one part and modify another. We are not sure in which project
the assembly is checked into so we need to search the vault.
Right-click anywhere in the Vault View and select Find/Search.

Click Simplified.

11 Set search criteria.

Select Any for the Search criteria.

Type sub100420 as the for value.

Because we not sure if SUB is capitalized in the file name, we will

select Ignore case.

Clear Exact match so we do not have to type the complete file name.

Click Find.
The file is highlighted in the Vault View.

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12 Results.

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If there are more instances

of the file or other files
that have sub100420 in
their name, description,
number, revision or owner
we could find them one at
at time by clicking Find
Next.

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The file
SUB10042001_01 will
be highlighted in gray in
the Vault View.

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13 Generate Report.

An alternative is to generate a report of all files that match the search

criteria.

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Click Generate Report.

The report format shows that there is only one file in the vault matching
the search criteria.

14 Check out the assembly.

Right-click the assembly SUB10142001_01 in the Search Results

list and select Open Check Out Document.

15 Select the references.

All the files referenced by the assembly are listed and selected, except
for a few that are gray. These are files that are owned by someone else.
We can open these files but not take ownership.

For Get references, Latest versions should be selected.

74

We want to copy all the files to our local workspace (C:\Working),

but we only need to take ownership of the files that will change. Select
for the two parts L10172001.01 and L10172001-02. The icon
will change to
indicating that we will take ownership.

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16 Click Open/Check Out.

The selected files are copied to the directory C:\Working and the
assembly is opened.

17 Close the Search Result and Search dialog boxes.

Updating Views

The Local View and Vault View do not continually update from the
vault and local drive, they only update when the views are initially
opened. These views need to be refreshed to keep them current.

Refreshing the Vault View has one other effect. Because of the serverclient operation, settings changed in the VaultAdmin tool do not
automatically take effect on the clients. The settings on the clients do
not update until the vault is refreshed.

Introducing:
Refresh View

The Local View and Vault View each have their own refresh command
to cause the local drives or vault to be read.

Where to Find It

Q
Q

Searching for Documents

Right-click in the Local View and select Refresh View or rightclick in the Vault View and select Refresh Vault View.
Or, click Refresh
on the PDMWorks Vault toolbar.
Or, click Refresh
on the PDMWorks Standalone Client toolbar.

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18 Refresh the Local View.

The Local View doesnt show the files yet,

it needs to be refreshed.

All the files now show with the icon to

show that they are the same as the vault.

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19 Resolve all files.

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Right-click in the Local View and select

Refresh Local View.

If your SolidWorks options

caused the files to be opened
lightweight, resolve all the
lightweight files.

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Read-only
References

The vault administrator can set an option to force users, who do not
own files, to open those files as read-only. This prevents users from
trying to change files they dont own.
In our company, the vault administrator has enabled an option to bind
SolidWorks read-write and read-only access to PDMWorks
permissions. This means that any file that is owned by someone else
will be opened as read-only.

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If we have an assembly open with many files opened as read-only,

SolidWorks will prompt us to save read-only files to new names when
we close the assembly. To avoid this time consuming problem, we reset
the SolidWorks option to not prompt when saving read-only files.

20 Find references.
Click File, Find References.

Because the administrator has configured the vault to open all

documents that we do not own as read-only, the only files we have
write access to are the assembly and the two files we checked out.
Notice that all the files we are working with are in the C:\Working
directory.

Click Close.

21 Set SolidWorks options.

Click Tool, Options in the menu and select External References in
the System Options.

Select Dont prompt to save read-only documents (discard

changes).
Click OK to close the options.

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Assembly and Part

Changes

Brian needs to make two changes to this assembly.

First he will replace the Carriage Lifter Arm (part L10172001.01)
with a different version (L10172001.02).
Second, because the shaft of new part is larger, he will modify the hole
in the Carriage Lock (L10172001-02) to accept the larger shaft.

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Then he will check in the assembly and bump the revision on the
assembly and the parts that have changed.
22 Replace the part.

In the FeatureManager design tree, right-click

Carriage Lifter Arm, part L10172001.01 and
select Replace Components.

Browse to the Lesson01\Case Study\Ink

Jet Printer directory and select part

L10172001.02.

Click OK.

The straight lever is replaced by

the curved lever.

Click OK to keep the mates

without changes.

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23 Modify part.

Right-click the Carriage Lock, part

L10172001-02, and select Open Part.
Double-click Cut-Extrude2.
Change the hole diameter to 4.20mm.

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Rebuild the part.

24 The SolidWorks icon.

In the Local View, click the plus sign next

to the SolidWorks icon
.

This listing shows which files are open, in

memory, in need of saving and the current
comparison with the vault.

Files in bold need to be saved. Hollow

icons are in memory but not in an open window. Files in orange are
opened as read-only.
The Carriage Lifter Arm (L10172001.02) has the
has not been checked into the vault.
The Carriage Lock (L10172001-02) has the
modified, but not yet saved.

icon because it

icon. This part has been

Because SolidWorks is a RAM resident program, the version of the file

in RAM and that on the fixed storage location are frequently different.
Which version is used to compare against the vault can be controlled in
the PDMWorks options.

Introducing:
Compare vault file to

The PDMWorks option to Compare vault file to, controls whether the
file in RAM or the file saved to the fixed storage location is compared
to the file stored in the vault.

Comparing Local
Files To The Vault

Where to Find It

Searching for Documents

Select either File on disk or File in memory in the PDMWorks

options.

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25 PDMWorks options.

Right-click in the Vault View and select

PDMWorks Options.
Select File in memory.
Click OK.

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The assembly SUB10042001_01 will change from Same as the

to Newer than the vault because the file has not yet been
vault
saved.
The recommended setting is to compare the vault file to the file on disk.

Tip

26 PDMWorks options.
Return the setting to File on disk and close the options.
27 Close the part.

Close and Save the Carriage Lock.

The active window will change to the assembly SUB10042001_01.

28 Check in the assembly.

Right-click in the Vault View and select Check In Active Document.

29 Warning message.

PDMWorks recognizes that the assembly has not been saved and warns
us to save the file before check in.
Click OK.

30 Check in the assembly.

In the Select references section, only two of the referenced files are

The Carriage Lifter Arm (L10172001.02)is a new reference and

new to the vault so it has the icon. The Carriage Lock
(L10172001-02)has been modified so the icon shows that the
copy being checked in is newer than the copy in the vault.

pre-selected, the Carriage Lifter Arm (L10172001.02)and the

Carriage Lock (L10172001-02). There is no reason to check in any
other files as nothing else has changed.

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31 Revisions.

The revision is automatically bumped to -.02 for the assembly as it is

the next number in the revision sequence.
The revision number for the Carriage Lock (L10172001-02) also
shows the revision to be -.02 because it has been modified.

The Carriage Lifter Arm (L10172001.02) will be checked in at the

first revision level as it is new to the vault.

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32 Add Carriage Lifter Arm properties.

Find the Carriage Lifter Arm part (L10172001.02) in the references

list.
The part L10172001 already had file properties for Number and
Description so they are automatically filled in.

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This file already had several previous revisions, so it should be checked

in at -.06.
Select the Revision cell and edit the revision to read -.06.

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33 Add COSMOS data.

The Carriage Lifter Arm had an analysis done in COSMOS that we

would also like to check into the vault.
Click COSMOS.

PDMWorks will report that it found one COSMOS file and it has been
included.

Click OK.

34 Change assembly revision.

Type SUB10042001 for the Number and Frame sub-assembly

for the Description.
The revision should be -.02.
Add the following note. Type Changed lifter arm then press
Enter. Then type Increased bore on Carriage Lock.
Notes can have more than one line.

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Delete Local Copy

When we checked out the assembly, all the files we selected were
copied to our local workspace, the C:\Working directory. This
directory could get very large if we kept letting the copied files collect
there. If we are going to continue to work on this assembly, we could
leave all the copies in the directory. When we are done working on an
assembly or set of parts it is a good idea to clean out the working
directory.

Introducing:
Delete Local Copy

Delete local copy will remove the copies of the files being checked in

Where to Find It

from the local workspace.

Select Delete Local Copy in the Check in Document dialog box.

Or, click the icon in the Options column. The icon will change to
.

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35 Set the remaining options.

Select the Options header. For the three files we are checking in, select
Delete Local Copy and Retain Ownership.

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Click Check In.

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36 Cleared.

The SolidWorks window should now have no files open.

Because we deleted the local copy of the open assembly, the file closed
automatically.
37 Empty Working directory.

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Using SolidWorks File Explorer, examine the Working directory.

PDMWorks deleted the local copy of the files we checked in, but not
the remaining files of the assembly. All these files remain in the
Working directory because they were not checked in again.

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Select all the files in the Working directory and delete them.

We are not worried about losing them because all these files are copies
that came from the vault and the master copies are still in the vault.

Note

38 Document Properties.

In the Vault View, right-click SUB10042001-01 and select

Document Information from the menu.

This assembly has two revisions in the vault (-.01 and -.02) and six
configurations.
The information provided is revision and configuration specific.
Select revision -.02 [latest] and Config [None selected].

These are the file properties for this revision.

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39 Previous revision.
Select revision -.01.

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The Description and Number properties are blank because we didnt

add values to them until we checked in the assembly as revision -.02.

PDMWorks allows us to open files at any revision. In order to do this,

all referenced files for all revisions must be retained in the vault.

References To Old
Revisions

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40 References.

Select Revision -.02 [Latest] and Configuration [None selected].

Select the References tab.

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The part L10172001.01 is listed in gray. This is the Carriage

Lifter Arm that was replace in revision -.02. The gray indicates that
it is referenced by the assembly, but not in the selected revision (-.02).

41 Close the Document Information window.

Opening
Documents

As mentioned earlier, PDMWorks provides several ways to open a

document.
From the Local View:
Q

Q
Q

Double-click the file and it will open in whatever program is

associated to its file type.
Drag the file into an active window for that file type.
Right-click the file and select Open or Open to configuration.

From the Vault View:

Q
Q

Searching for Documents

Drag the file into an active window for that file type.
Right-click the file and select Open / Check Out Document.

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Check Out
Alternative

Once the PDMWorks Add-in is loaded, files can be opened directly

from the vault using the standard File, Open menu. The Open dialog
will have additional icons for My PDMWorks Documents and the
PDMWorks Vault.

Click File, Open from the menu.

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Where to Find It

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My PDMWorks Documents will show the directory listed in the

PDMWorks Options that is set for the default save in folder for Open
and Check Out.

42 Check out.

Brian wants to check out this assembly to do some more work on it.

Click File, Open from the menu. Select PDMWorks Vault.

Select the assembly SUB10042001_01 found under General

Projects, Printer.
If we click Open, the assembly and references will be copied to the
default folder (C:\Working) and the assembly will be opened in
SolidWorks.

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Open Advanced

If we need additional control over the ownership, version or save in

folder, we can use Open Advanced. Selecting Open Advanced will
open the Open / Check Out Document dialog. This is the same result
as selecting Open / Check Out Document from the vault.

44 Select references.

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43 Click Open Advanced.

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All the references should be selected. Select Latest versions if not

already selected.

Click Open / Check Out.

PDMWorks allows any file format to be checked into the vault and
attached to other files within the vault.

Check In from disk

While SolidWorks files are checked in from the active window, all
other files are checked in directly from their storage location on disk.

Where to Find It

NonSolidWorks
Documents

Non-SolidWorks Documents

Right-click in the Vault View and select Check In From Disk.

Or, click
on the Standalone Client toolbar.

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File Associations

When a SolidWorks document is checked in, it automatically has

associations with other files based on the SolidWorks structure. NonSolidWorks documents must be associated (attached) manually.
SolidWorks drawings will always appear under the file they reference.
45 Open a drawing.

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Open the drawing SUB10142001_01.slddrw from the

Lesson02\Case Study\Drawings directory.

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This drawing did not get checked in when the assembly was checked in
because it was neither in the same directory as the assembly nor in the
reference list in the SolidWorks options.

46 Save the drawing.

This updates the graphics to reflect the new Carriage Lifter Arm and to
reset the file pointers.

Revision Tables

PDMWorks can update drawing revision tables during the check in

process. The vault administrator can set the rules which determine
when the revision table is incremented, how many rows will be visible
in the table and whether the revisions are listed top to bottom or bottom
to top.
To have PDMWorks add revisions to the revision table, there are two
requirements:
Q

90

There must be a revision table already placed in the drawing before

check in.
The option must be enabled by the vault administrator.

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47 Add revision table.

Click Insert, Tables, Revision Table from the menu.

Place the standard revision table in the upper right corner of the
drawing.

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The table will be empty.

48 Check in.

Right-click the Ink Jet Printer project in the Vault View and
select Check in Active Document.

Type SUB10042001 for the Number and Frame assembly for the
Description.

Add the note: Changed Carriage Lifter Arm.

None of the references needs to be checked in as there were no changes

to them.
Click Check In.

49 Association.

The drawing automatically

associated to its assembly and
is listed under the assembly.

50 Revision table.

The revision table updated to

show the current revision. The note text was used as the revision
description.

Non-SolidWorks Documents

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51 eDrawing.

An eDrawing was created from this drawing. This is also going to be

checked into the vault. Because eDrawings are standalone files that do
not have external references, we must create an association manually.
Right-click the assembly SUB10042001_01 in the Vault View and
select Check in From Disk.
52 Select file.

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Click Open.

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Navigate to the Lesson02\Case Study\Drawings directory and

select SUB10042001_01.EDRW.
53 Create a file attachment.

Because we selected a file (the

assembly) rather than a project, we
are asked if we want to create an
attachment.
Click Yes.

54 Check In.

Type SUB10042001 for the Number and Frame assembly for the
Description.

55 Attach to another document.

While checking in and attaching

the eDrawing to this assembly, we
could also attach it to other
documents at the same time.
Click Attach to another
document.
Select the assembly
ink_jet_top_assy.

Click OK.

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Click Check In.

56 Association.

The eDrawing is now

listed under the both
assemblies because we
manually associated the
files.

Adding
Attachments

Where to Find It

Once a non-Solidworks document is in the vault, it may be attached to

other documents. To attach a document to a document you do not own
requires permission to be set by the vault administrator.
Q

Right-click the target document or documents that you wish the file
attached to, then select Add Attachment.
To attach a document to several documents, select the target
documents that you wish the file attached to, then right-click and
select Add Attachment.

Attachments can easily be removed from single or multiple files.

Where to Find It

Removing
Attachments

Non-SolidWorks Documents

Right-click the attached file you want to remove, then select

Remove Attachment.
To remove an attached document from several documents, select
the target documents that you wish the file attached removed from,
then right-click and select Remove Attachment.

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57 Remove an attachment.

In the vault view, locate the eDrawing SUB10042001 attached to the

ink_jet_top_assy. Right-click the eDrawing and select Remove
Attachment.

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58 Close all open files.

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Exercise 4:
Checking Out
Documents

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Once we have documents in the vault, we will

need to check them out to do additional work.

Start SolidWorks.

Log in.

Log in as student1, password stu.

Check out the U-Joint assembly.

In the Vault View, right-click the U-Joint assembly and select Open/

Check Out Document.

Select references.

Select the Options header to select all the files, then select Take
ownership.

We set our default workspace to C:\Working so it should be listed as

the Save In directory. Click Check Out.

Create a configuration.

Create a configuration of the assembly named with hole.

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Edit part.

Edit the bracket part and create a

configuration with hole.
Add an in-context hole to the
bracket.sldprt from the hole
in the Yoke_female.sldprt.

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Return to Edit Assembly.

Local View.

Examine the Local View, all

documents in the working
directory show the equal
icon.

We made changes to two

files, the bracket and the
assembly, but the changes are
only in the copies of these
files in RAM, not the copies
on the hard drive.

Change options.

Right-click in the Vault View and select

PDMWorks Options.
Select Compare vault file to: File in
memory.

Click OK to save and close the options.

Local View.

The bracket and assembly

now show that they are
newer than the vault.

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10 Files to be saved.

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Both the bracket and

assembly have colored icons
indicating that they are open
in their own windows. Their
file names are in bold to
show that they need to be
saved.

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In the Local View, click the

plus sign next to the
SolidWorks
icon to show
the files open in SolidWorks.

11 Check in the assembly.

Right-click the U-Joint project in the Vault View and select Check
In Active Document.

12 PDMWorks - Warning.

PDMWorks will warn us to save the files before checkin.

Click OK.

13 Select references.

The only reference file selected is the bracket because it is the only
reference that has changed. Both the assembly and the bracket will
bump their revisions to -.02.

Add the note added with hole configuration and apply it to the
assembly and bracket.

Click Check In.

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14 Review vault information.

In the Vault View, right-click the U-Joint assembly and select

Document Information.

Why does Where Used show that the assembly is used in the bracket?
Answer below.

Question:

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The information on each tab may be saved to a text or csv file just like
the report.

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The Preview Picture tab shows the file visualization data. This is a
static image.

The View tab shows the file using eDrawing information. This image
can be rotated, zoomed, animated and sectioned.

This is a result of the in-context feature. The Where Used is referring

to the Update Holder.

Answer:

15 Restore options.

Right-click in the Vault View and select PDMWorks Options.

Select Compare vault file to: File on disk.
Click OK to save and close the options.
16 Close all windows and files.

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Exercise 5:
Checking In
Other
Documents

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In addition to parts and

assemblies, we need to
check in drawings and other
documents related to our
projects.

Open a drawing.

Open the drawing Saddle.slddrw from the

Lesson02\Exercises\Tool Vise folder.

Publish an eDrawing.
Create an eDrawing of Saddle drawing.

Save the eDrawing to the C:\Working directory.

Close the eDrawing publisher.

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Check in the eDrawing.

In the Vault View, right-click the Saddle part in the core parts
project.
Select Check In From Disk.
Navigate to the C:\Working directory and select the eDrawing.
4

PDMWorks Question.

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Click Open.

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SolidWorks parts, assemblies and drawings create their own

associations automatically. For all other documents we have to do it
manually.
Click Yes.

In the References window the part Saddle appears with the icon.
This means it is a new reference, not that file is new to the vault. This is
a reference to attach the eDrawing to the part file
Clear Retain ownership and select Delete local copy.

Click Check In.

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If we had not created the association, the Check In Document dialog

would not have shown the reference to the Saddle part.

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Note

Review the results.

The SolidWorks drawing (checked in

previously) and the e-Drawing are both
associated to the part.

Create a *.pdf file.

Save the Saddle drawing as a *.pdf file in the Working directory.

Check in.

Check in the Saddle.pdf file to the

core parts project and create an
association to the Saddle part.

Release ownership and delete the local copy.

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Add additional files to the vault.

Open the drawing Tool Vise.slddrw

from the Tool Vise project and create
an eDrawing.

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Check the eDrawing into the vault and associate it with the tool vise
assembly.

Close all open documents.

10 Empty the working directory.

Use Windows Explorer to delete all the files in the Working directory.

Exercise 5

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Exercise 5

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Q

Add custom properties to files.

Create customized reports.

Output reports to a spreadsheet.

Control revisions.

Use SolidWorks tools and utilities to compare files in the vault.

Use SolidWorks and PDMWorks in a collaborative environment.

Use the SolidWorks Task Scheduler to batch print drawings.

Create templates to automatically add file properties.

Update the client software.

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PDMWorks Environment

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

PDMWorks provides several tools to gain information about files in the

vault and different techniques to control files that do not require
revision control, such as Toolbox parts.

Reports

PDMWorks Reports can be customized in different ways to provide

output useful for different management tasks. Reports can be
customized for content and format and saved so that they can be read in
other software packages.

Custom
Properties

Custom properties can be added to files through Windows Explorer or

application programs such as SolidWorks.

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Other
PDMWorks
Activities

Custom property categories can also be added, managed and used for
reports through PDMWorks. Specific properties that will be used in
PDMWorks must be added by the administrator through the
VaultAdmin tool. These properties can then be added and modified
during document check in or through various list boxes.

Templates

Custom properties can be added to templates to automatically fill

certain properties that can be later used in PDMWorks. The most
common is to add the SolidWorks file name to a file property for
number.

Login.

Log in to PDMWorks as Bob White.

Search the vault.

In the Vault View, use a simple search to find the assembly

SB10162001-A1.

Bob is responsible for this assembly and wants to add values for
Number and Description to the assembly and some of the parts.

Check Out the assembly.

Right-click SB10162001-A1 in the Vault View and select Open /

Check Out Document.

Take ownership of all the files except SUB10042001_01. You cannot

take ownership of this file because it is already owned by Brian Hursch.
4

References.

Select all the references and Latest versions.

Click Open / Check Out.
5

Check In.

Right-click the Ink Jet Printer project in the Vault View and select
Check In Active Document.
Under Options, select the assembly SB10162001-A1 and all the
parts.

Other PDMWorks Activities

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PDMWorks question.

Each part that has an equal icon will cause PDMWorks to question if
you want to check in a file that appears identical to the vault.
Click OK for each file.
7

Add properties to the assembly.

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For the assembly, type SB10162001 for Number and Power

module for Description.

Scroll the box to the right. Notice that the Options column does not
move, only the columns to the right of it. The properties after Note are
properties added by the Vault Administrator.

Repeat the procedure to add Jim Jones in the ApprovedBy column.

Select the column head DrawnBy. This selects all the cells in this
column. Type Bob White for DrawnBy (18). The 17 indicates that
there are 18 cells selected. Click Apply to enter the value into all the
cells.

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Lesson 3

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PDMWorks Environment

Checkin Without
Bumping Revision

When changes are minor, we may not want to bump the revision to the
next increment. PDMWorks provides two methods to accomplish this.

Working copy

A working copy is designated by a suffix to the revision number. For

this course, a + (plus sign) is used to show working copies.

Revision overwrite

Note

Custom Properties

Overwriting the old revision number overwrites the file in the vault
with the new information.
Each new revision increment is kept as a separate file in the vault. Both
of these two methods do not create a new copy but instead overwrite
the last instance of the file.
Both working copy and revision overwrite must be enabled by the vault
administrator.

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PDMWorks Environment

Keep the old revision number.

Bob wants to leave the revision at -.01 because the only changes
made were to add the custom properties.

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Click Apply.

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Select the column head Revision. For Revision (18), select Other
from the pull-down list. Type -.01, this is the current revision level.
Because -.01 is the current revision, this file will overwrite the copy
in the vault.

110

Add a note.

Type the note: Added custom properties to just the assembly.

Click Check In.
Click OK to the Warning about missing numbers and descriptions.

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

10 Results.

Right-click SB10162001 in the Vault View and select Document

Information. The Properties tab shows the addition of the new
properties and that the revision is still at -.01.

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Click Close.

11 Change file properties.

Click the plus sign next to SB10162001-A1 in the Vault View to

expand the tree.

Right-click the file ps12272001-01 and select Document

Information.

The Properties tab shows that this file does not have values entered for
Description, Number, Company, Cost or Material.
Rather than open the file and add properties during check in, we can
add them right here.
Double-click Description on the
Properties tab.
Type Ckt Board Frame for the
Value.
Click OK.

Custom Properties

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12 Add the number.

Right-click Number in the Properties tab and select Change.

Type the number ps12272001 and click OK.

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File properties have now been added without having to check out a
document and check it back in.

13 Change Author.
Double-click Author. PDMWorks warns us that we cannot change this

property.

The only properties that can be changed are Number, Description and
properties designated by the administrator. In our system, these are:

Customizing the
Report

Q
Q
Q

ApprovedBy
Cost
DrawnBy

Q
Q
Q

Company
Description2
Material

Click OK to close the warning then Close to close the Document

Information window.
Reports may be customized and saved as either text or comma
delimited files that can be read in other software programs.
The report dialog responds as does any windows list box allowing
column widths to be adjusted by dragging or by double-clicking the
heading border.

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PDMWorks Environment

Individual columns may be hidden and restored.

Column order can be changed by dragging the column header.
Once headers are hidden or moved, the header state can be saved for
future reports.
14 Create a report.

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In the Vault View, right-click the file SUB10042001_01 and click

Reporting. Resize the window to show as many columns as will fit in
the window.

15 Hide a column.

Some of these columns contain information that we do not want to see

because it is making the report too wide.

Right-click the column header Author and select Hide column. The
column is hidden and the report is not as wide.
Hide the columns Level, ApprovedBy, Company, Cost,
Description2, DrawnBy, Project and Quantity.

16 Column order.

Column order can be changed simply by dragging the column header.

Drag the column header Number to the left to make it the second
column.
Drag the column header Revision to the left to make it the third
column.

Custom Properties

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17 Unhide a column.

After looking at the report we decide we

really want the column Project, that we have
hidden, back in the report.
Right-click any column header and select
Unhide Column, Project.

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Now that the columns we want to see are showing and

in the right order, we can save this setup, or header
state.

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18 Save the header state.

Right-click any column header and select Save

Header State.

There are additional options to return to the default columns and

column order and to return to the last column state we saved.

Searching in a
Report

Reports can be searched by column for specific data. The search tool
provided in the report is the simple search, restricted to one search
criteria at a time.

Where to Find It

Double-click a column heading in the report.

19 Search for Pending

documents.

Double-click the column

header Status.

Because we double-clicked
the Status column, the
only property that will be
searched is Status.

Type pending in the for field.

Select all matches will highlight all files that satisfy the search

criteria.
Select First unselect all so that only the files we are searching for are
highlighted and Ignore case.
Click Find.

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PDMWorks Environment

Output to File

File Format
Options

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Replace Graphic

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Close the dialog box.

Reports can be saved to either text files (*.txt) or comma delimited files
(*.csv) so that they can be printed or used in other documents.
Formatting options for the output file are controlled by the user options.
In addition to saving the information in the columns; column headers,
date, report type, and extra quote marks around each field may added.

Show header will add the column headers to the report.

Show extra header info will add the report date and report type.
Double quote fields will add quotation marks around each field to

make them easier to see in text reports.

20 Set the report options.
Close the report window.

Click
on the PDMWorks toolbar to open the
options.
Select Show header and Show extra header

Custom Properties

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info.

Select Comma delimited fields. Click OK to save the changes and

close.
21 Recreate the report.

22 Modify the report.

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To make the report more specific, we will

select the information for the latest revision
and the configuration currently in-use.

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In the Vault View, right-click the assembly SUB10042001_01 and

click Reporting. The columns should still be in the order they were in
when the report window was last closed.

Select -.02 [latest] from the Revision list and 8.5x11 [in-use] from the
Config list.
Click Update. The report now updates to reflect the information based
on this revision and configuration.

23 Output the report.

Click Output to file.

Name the new file SUB10042001_01 report. The Save as type

should be CSV (comma delimited)(*.csv) because of the options we
just set. Save the report to the C:\Working directory.

Click Save.

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PDMWorks Environment

24 Start Excel.

Excel can read CSV files directly.

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Start Excel and then open SUB10042001_01 report.csv.

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Replace Graphic

Once opened in Excel, the information can be manipulated and

fomatted using all the tools available in Excel.

25 Close Excel without saving the file.

26 Close the Reporting window and all open files.

27 Clean up the workspace.

Using SolidWorks File Explorer, delete all the files in the

C:\Working directory.

Drawing
Revisions

PDMWorks can update the revision tables in drawings when they are
checked into the vault.

To have PDMWorks update the drawing revision table, there are two
requirements:

Case Study:
Drawing
Revisions

Q
Q

The drawing must already contain a revision table.

The function must be enabled by the vault administrator.

In this case study, we will check out a drawing from the vault and make
changes. The drawing will be checked back into the vault at the next
revision level. PDMWorks will add the new revision to the drawings
revision table.
The vault administrator has enabled the function to allow the revision
tables to be updated anytime there is a change to the primary or
secondary revision number.

Drawing Revisions

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28 Log in.

Log into PDMWorks as Jim Jones.

29 Open the drawing.

Open the drawing IT10172001.03 from the Ink Cartridges project.

Jim owns the drawing and part, so he only needs to open the drawing.

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Select the part IT10172001.03 part to make sure it is also copied to

the Working directory.

30 Insert a revision table.

The drawing does not have a revision table, so one must be added.
Insert a standard revision table in the upper right corner.
The table will not yet have any entries.

31 Remove a view.

Delete the Isometric view.

32 Add a detailed view.

Add a detailed view as shown.

33 Add dimensions.

Select the Front view and insert model

items.
Position the dimensions as appropriate.

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PDMWorks Environment

34 Add an annotation.

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Add an annotation in the title block to name the drawing Ink

Cartridge Lid.

35 Check in.

Right-click the Ink Cartridge project in the Vault View and select
Check in Active Document.
Type IT10172001.03 for the Number and Ink Cartridge Lid
for Description.

Add a two line note to the drawing only: Added detail view and
dimensions.

Click Check In.

Case Study: Drawing Revisions

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36 Examine the revision table.

SolidWorks
Tools and
Utilities

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37 Close all open files.

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The revision number and description have been entered.

DrawCompare

Some SolidWorks tools and utilities can be used to compare drawings

and geometry of files within the vault. There is no need to first check
out or open the files
DrawCompare can be used to compare all entities between two

drawing documents.

Click Tools, DrawCompare.

Where to Find It

Utilities

SolidWorks Utilities provide tools to compare the document, features

or geometry.

In the Utilities menu, click Compare Documents, Compare

Features, or Compare Geometry.

Where to Find It

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Case Study:
Compare
Drawings

To determine the changes made to a drawing between revisions, we can

use DrawCompare.
1

Start DrawCompare.
Click Tools, DrawCompare.

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To use DrawCompare, we must identify the two drawings to be

compared, these are Drawing 1 and Drawing 2. Usually, Drawing 1 is
the older of the two drawings and Drawing 2 is the revised version.

Case Study: Compare Drawings

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PDMWorks Environment

Select Drawing 1.

For Drawing 1, click Browse.

Select the PDMWorks vault in the left pane.
Navigate to the Ink Cartridge project and select the drawing
IT10172001.03.

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Click Open.

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Select Revision -.01.

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Select Drawing 2.

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Repeat the above step, except select Revision -.02.

Compare.

In the DrawCompare window, Compare Drawings

Case Study: Compare Drawings

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PDMWorks Environment

Results.

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The DrawCompare window shows both drawings and the differences

between them.

Differences.

The differences window shows Removals (entities that are in Drawing

1 but not in Drawing 2) in blue.
Additions (entities in Drawing 2 but not in Drawing 1) are shown in
green.

Additions and removals may be toggled on and off independently.

Close.

Close the DrawCompare window without saving the results.

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Case Study:
Compare
Geometry

Parts in the vault can also be compared to determine differences

between revisions.
1

Start SolidWorks Utilities.

SolidWorks Utilities is an add in that must

be turned on to be used.
Select SolidWorks Utilities.

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Click OK.

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Click Tools, Add Ins.

Compare geometry.

Click Utilities, Compare Geometry

from the menu.

Select Reference Document.

Click Browse next to the Reference

Document box.

Select the PDMWorks Vault in the

left pane.

Navigate to the Speaker Assembly project and select the

Speaker Frame part.
Select Revision A.

Click Open.

Case Study: Compare Geometry

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Modified Document.

Repeat the above process but select

revision C.01.
Compare.
Click Compare.

The two parts are displayed at the

bottom with a comparison window
above.

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The Results window allows you to select various quantities for

comparison which are then displayed in the comparison window.

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Close all open files.

Case Study: Compare Geometry

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

In most design projects, more than one engineer or designer is

responsible for the various parts that make up the final product. One of
the primary functions of a PDM system is Change Control and Sharing.
There are several methods to control the collaboration between
engineers and designers.

SolidWorks Only
Method

In situations where PDMWorks is not used, collaboration using only

SolidWorks is done by both users opening files from a common shared
drive. As only one user can have write access, control over which user
has write access to each file is controlled by the individual users.

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Collaboration

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For more information on read/write access and SolidWorks only

collaboration see the SolidWorks File Management training course.

RAM

User 1

RAM

User 2

v
Sa

Sa

ve

Shared Drive
\\computer name\workarea

Collaboration

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PDMWorks Environment

When collaborating with PDMWorks, files are copied from the vault to
each users local workspace during the check out or open process. With
the PDMWorks option set to Bind ownership to SolidWorks readwrite / read-only access, PDMWorks will prevent more than one user
from having write access to any file. The person with ownership of the
file in the vault will be the only person with write access in
SolidWorks.

Collaboration

The SolidWorks option for collaboration will cause SolidWorks and

PDMWorks to check for newer versions of files opened as read-only.
SolidWorks will check the shared location and PDMWorks will check
the vault. For PDMWorks collaboration function to work, Bind
ownership to SolidWorks read-write / read-only access must be set
by the vault administrator.

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PDMWorks With
Local Work Areas

Click Tools, Options, Collaboration.

Where to Find It

Bind ownership

The vault administrator can set an option called Bind ownership to

SolidWorks read-write/read-only access.
When this option is selected, making a change to the read/write status
of a file in SolidWorks affects the ownership of the file in PDMWorks.
Conversely, changing ownership in PDMWorks affects the read/write
status of the file in SolidWorks.
Q

If you take ownership in PDMWorks, you have read/write access in

SolidWorks.
If you take write access in SolidWorks, you have ownership in
PDMWorks. If another user has ownership, you are not allowed to
take write access.
If you release ownership in PDMWorks, you have read-only access
in SolidWorks.
If you make a document read-only in SolidWorks, ownership is
released in PDMWorks.

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PDMWorks Environment

With collaboration enabled in SolidWorks, other users will be notified

when files are checked into the vault. To keep their local files current,
they can reload them from the vault.

RAM

User 2

C
Ch hec
ec k In
kO
ut

Local Drive

n
kI t
ec Ou
Ch eck
Ch

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User 1

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RAM

Local Drive

Vault

Collaboration

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PDMWorks Environment

PDMWorks With A
Shared Location

Both of the above methods can be used in combination. Files from the
vault can be copied to a shared location from which users can then open
the individual files. With the option to bind access selected,
PDMWorks will prevent multiple users from having write access.

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The collaboration option will notify users of changes to both the shared
files and the files in the vault.

RAM

RAM

User 1

User 2

Sa

ve

Sa

ve

Chec
Chec k In
k Ou
t

Shared Drive
\\computer name\workarea

Vault

Case Study:
Collaboration

Brian Hursch is responsible for the mechanical assembly of the printer

and Greg Johnson is responsible for the sheet metal part of the frame.
In this case study, Brain will open the main sub-assembly of the printer.
At the same time, Greg will make a change to one of the sheet metal
parts. PDMWorks will notify Brian that a new version of one of the
parts has been checked into the vault and allow him to reload a current
copy.

Login.

Log into PDMWorks as Brain Hursch.

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Set Collaboration options.

Click Tools, Options, then
Collaboration.

Select everything.

Click OK to close the Options.

Open the assembly.

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From the pull-down list,

select 1 minute for the
interval to check files.

Open the assembly

SUB10042001_01. Brian
owns some of the parts of
this assembly, but most parts
are either owned by
someone else or no one.

Greg checks out a part.

Greg Johnson checks out the

part 10032001_a2.

Edit the pattern feature.

Greg edits the linear pattern to increase the number of ribs from 8 to 11.

Case Study: Collaboration

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Check in.

Greg checks in the changed

part.

Update the part.

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One minute later, Brian gets

notification in the lower right
portion of his screen that the
part has changed.

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Brian clicks Reload

on the
Status bar. The Reload box
shows that the part is owned
by Greg Johnson and that there is a newer version in the vault.
Brian selects the part and then OK.

Updated assembly.

Brians assembly now has the current version of the part Greg is
working on.

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Close all open files.

Drawings can be printed directly from the vault using the SolidWorks
Task Scheduler. By using the task scheduler, there is no need to check
out the individual drawings. The SolidWorks Task Scheduler performs
a batch print of the specified files in the vault.

Introducing:
SolidWorks Task
Scheduler

The SolidWorks Task Scheduler runs separately from the SolidWorks

application and lets you set up tasks to be performed a a future time.
Tasks may be run once or repeated at specified intervals.

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Printing
Drawings From
The Vault

With PDMWorks, the task scheduler can be used to select specific

projects and file types to be printed or converted.
Click Start, All Programs, SolidWorks 2005, SolidWorks Task
Scheduler.

Where to Find It

Case Study:
Batch Print

In this case study, drawings will be printed directly from the vault using
the SolidWorks Task Scheduler.

Start the SolidWorks Task Scheduler.

Click Start, All Programs, SolidWorks 2006, SolidWorks Task
Scheduler.

In the left pane, click Print PDMWorks Files.

Printing Drawings From The Vault

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Log in.

Create a print job.

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The task scheduler can

be programed to do
multiple tasks. For this
case study we will
only set up a single
task to save time.

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Log in as Jane Doe.

Click Add Project.

Select a project.

The PDMWorks Print function acts on

entire projects. In this case we will print
all the drawings in the Ink Cartridge
project.

Select the Ink Cartridge project,

then click OK.

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Filter file types.

Select *.drw, *.slddrw

from the list.
Select printer.
Click Options.

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The task scheduler can

select parts,
assemblies, drawings,
all SolidWorks files, or
all files.

Select the printer you

want to use.
Click OK.

Schedule the task.

Schedule the task to run Once.

Set the time and date for a few minutes in the

future.
Click Finish.

In progress.

When the SolidWorks Task Scheduler begins, it will give a status report
on the tasks in progress and completed.

Case Study: Batch Print

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Close.

When the task is complete, close all open windows.

Automated File
Properties

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When company policy is to use the SolidWorks file name as the custom
property Number, the process can be automated by linking SolidWorks
properties in the part, assembly and drawing templates. Additional
properties that will be used in PDMWorks, such as Material, can
also be read from the SolidWorks file and filled in automatically.

Case Study:
Custom
Properties in
Templates

In this case study, we will create a part template that has file properties
that we will use in PDMWorks. The template will automatically fill in
the property Number with the file name and will fill in the property
Material with the material assigned in SolidWorks.

New part.

Open a new part using part.prtdot template.

Add custom property.

Click File, Properties.

Click the down arrow in the Property Name cell, then select Number
from the list.
Select Text for Type.

In the Value/Text Expression cell type $PRP:SW-File Name.

This will link the custom property Number to File Name.

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Add material property.

Select the Property Name cell in row 2. Select Material from the list.
Select Text for Type.
In the Value/Text Expression cell select Material from the list. This
will link the custom property Material to the material assigned to
the part.

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Click OK to close the Summary Information.

Save as template.
Click File, Save As.

Select Part Templates (*.prtdot) for Save as type.

Name the new template Part-Properties.

Select the same directory as the default templates

\SolidWorks\data\templates.
Click Save and confirm the save.

Open a new part.

Click File, New and select the new template Part-Properties.

Add material.

Click

on the Standard toolbar.

Apply the material Copper.

7

Save and Check in.

Save the part to the Working directory as Template Test.

Case Study: Custom Properties in Templates

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PDMWorks Environment

Save and
PDMWorks Check
In

Files can be saved and checked into the vault in one operation. File,
Save and PDMWorks Check In from the menu does two steps, it
saves the file to the current directory and then performs Check in
Active Documents. This can save several steps when files are being
checked in multiple times during the day during the development cycle.

Where to Find It

Click File, Save and PDMWorks Check In in the menu.

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Before using File, Save and PDMWorks Check In the document must
have been saved at least once.

Check In.

Check the part into the project Brian Work found under the project
Work Areas.
Click File, Save and PDMWorks Check In from the menu.

The Number cell has been filled in with the file name Template
Test and the Material cell has been filled in with Copper.

Several columns have been hidden to make it easier to see the two
properties.

Tip

138

Note

Click Check In.

If you select the project Brian Work before clicking File, Save and
PDMWorks Check In, the part will check into the project Brian
Work. If you do not pre-select the project it will default to the first
project in the vault (Bulk Load Projects) so you must change the
project before check in.

Case Study: Custom Properties in Templates

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Document information.

Right-click the Template Test part in the vault and select

Document Information.

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The Number and Material properties have automatically been

filled in.

10 Close.

Close all open files and delete all files in the Working directory.

Bulk Loading
Files

Alternate
Methods to
Access the
Vault

Bulk Loading Files

Large numbers of files may be checked in through the Bulk Loading

function. This option allows files of any type to be checked into the
vault and have their file properties mapped to corresponding file
properties used by PDMWorks.
Bulk loading of files must be done by the vault administrator. This
function is not available in the Client or Standalone software.

The vault may be accessed from computers without SolidWorks

installed through either the PDMWorks Standalone Client or the Web
Portal.

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PDMWorks Environment

Standalone Client

The PDMWorks Standalone Client is a Windows-based application that

enables design team members who are not SolidWorks users to access
and manage design information. It can also be used on systems with
SolidWorks, however it provides no additional functions beyond those
available inside SolidWorks.

The following functions can be done from the Vault View:

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Standalone
Functions

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The Standalone Client gives users the same functionality of the

SolidWorks client with only one exception; Standalone users cannot
check-in SolidWorks documents to the vault.

Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q
Q

Document Information
Check In Windows Documents
Check Out - all file types, even SolidWorks documents
Take and Release Ownership
Change Project
Find/Search Document
Reporting
Open Document
Delete Document
Add Note
Refresh Vault View, Display Label and PDMWorks Options

From the Local View:

Q
Q

Find Document in the Vault

Update Document or All from Vault
Refresh Local View

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Lesson 3

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PDMWorks Environment

Where to Find It

Click Start, All Programs, PDMWorks 2006, PDMWorks 2006

Standalone Client.
Click Tools, PDMWorks.

Click Start, PDMWorks 2006, PDMWorks 2006 Standalone Client.

The left pane shows the Local View on top and the Vault View on the
bottom.

If we are not logged in to PDMWorks, the Vault View only show one
item, Login.

Alternate Methods to Access the Vault

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Local View

Vault View

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Login.

For this next operation, we will log in as Brian Hursch. Brian is

responsible for the paper transport mechanism of the printer.
Right-click in the Vault View and select PDMWorks Login.
Select Brian Hursch from the list. Brians password is bri.

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Selecting a document in either the local or Vault View will show a

preview in the right pane along with stored information about the
document.

Alternate Methods to Access the Vault

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PDMWorks Environment

Select files.

In the Local View, navigate to the Lesson01\Case Study\Ink

Jet Printer\Ink Cartridge directory and select the assembly
file IF10152001-A1 under the folder ink cart.

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In the Vault View select the part IK10142001.sldprt under

project Ink Tanks.

Document information is provided on the tabs at the lower right. Both

the 2D and 3D (eDrawing) previews are available in the preview
windows.

User Options

Where to Find It

The same user options that were accessed from inside SolidWorks are
also available in the Standalone Client. These options are stored locally
on the individual computer.
Q
Q

144

Right-click in the Vault View and select PDMWorks Options.

Or, click the
tool on the ProjectManager toolbar.

User Options

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

Web Portal

The PDMWorks Web Portal is a web-based application that provides

browser access to the complete PDMWorks project structure and
associated data. Access through the Web Portal is Read-Only.
The Web Portal give users the following PDMWorks functionality
through the web browser:

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Retrieve Document Information, including all revisions and

previews.
Find/Search Documents.
Reporting.
Open Documents.

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Users without SolidWorks can copy files to their local computer and
use the SolidWorks viewer or eDrawings examine the files.
The web portal is not intended to be a remote access for working on
SolidWorks files. You cannot check files out nor into the vault through
the web portal. Additionally, when you open a file thought the web
portal, you only download that specific file. In the case of an assembly
file, the only file downloaded is the assembly file itself, not the
references. Web portal is only as fast as your internet connection.

Note

Using the web browser, users go to the address of the web portal. The
opening screen will require them to log in.

Procedure to use
the Web Portal

User Options

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The left pane provides access to the vault and the right pane provides
the same information that is accessed through Document Information
inside PDMWorks.

button.

Reports can also be generated by clicking the Report

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Lesson 3
PDMWorks Environment

eDrawing Viewer

The eDrawing viewer can be used to view files in the vault. If the vault
administrator can enabled measure, markup and save to allow these
functions through the web portal.

Software
Updates

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When viewing files through the web portal, click View with
eDrawings
on the web portal toolbar.

Markup
Measure

PDMWorks Client software is updated directly from the vault. There is

no need to download software from the web or install from a CD.
When updates are received,
the vault administrator
installs the update on the
vault first. Once done, as
users log in, they will
receive a message saying
that their software is older
than the vault version.
Click the Update button.

PDMWorks will close automatically and the update will begin.

A progress bar will keep you informed as the update progresses.

Software Updates

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PDMWorks will confirm that the client is updated.

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When completed, the Client

and Vault versions will
match and the Update
button will be gray.

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Exercise 6:
Add Properties
1

Start SolidWorks.

Login.

Log in as student1 (Password: stu).

3

File properties.

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To make any changes to a file, we

need to own the file. Otherwise we
could not check the file back in or
make other changes.

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When an assembly is checked in with all its referenced files, there may
be times when not all file properties are added. This exercise
demonstrates the methods to add file properties directly into different
list boxes.

In the Vault View, right-click the

assembly Tool vise in the project
Student projects and select
Take Ownership.

Select Children and All Children. Clear Do not change ownership if

document is a link. Click Own.

Document
Information.

Right-click the
assembly tool
vise and select
Document
Information.

Select the

Properties tab. The

existing file properties are shown.

The PDMWorks administrator has added several additional properties.

Double-click the property Company.

Note

Exercise 6

Change the property.

Type SolidWorks Corp. for the

Value and click OK.

In order to add file properties directly into the various list boxes in
PDMWorks, the PDMWorks Administrator must have enabled the
option Allow change document properties in the VaultAdmin tool.

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Add additional properties.

Add file properties based on the table below. As the Document

Information dialog is mode-less, you do not have to click Close to end
adding properties to one file before moving to the next file. After
adding the properties to one file, just select the next file in the vault.
Part

Number

Description

Company

Material

410P63204

Eccentric

SolidWorks Corp.

Upper plate

408P84251

Plate

SolidWorks Corp.

408P84252

Plate

SolidWorks Corp.

steel

411P54867

Locking Handle

SolidWorks Corp.

steel

steel

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Lower plate

stainless

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Eccentric

Locking Handle

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Exercise 7:
Create a Report

Reports can be customized both inside of PDMWorks and after export.

This exercise will customize the information in the report window, then
export the information into Excel.
Set the PDMWorks options.

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The information that will be save to our

output file is determined in two places,
the Reporting window and the
PDMWorks options. The option
settings are used to add header
information to the report.

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Right-click in the Vault View and select

PDMWorks Options.

Select Show headers and Show extra header info. Select Comma
delimit fields.
Click OK.

Create a report.

Right-click the project Tool Vise in the Vault View and select
Reporting.

Exercise 7

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Add properties.

The report window provides another place to add file properties.

Select the Number column for the Saddle eDrawing. Type
410P28256 into the cell.
You can also select several cells, or an entire column, and type the new
value into the input box above the grid.

Note

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Click OK.

Input box

Click here

Hide a column.

We want a report that has the following columns in this order:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Document (File Name)

Number
Revision
Description
Configs
Company

The first step is to start with the default header state, then we can hide
the columns we dont need.

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Right-click any column header and select Restore Default State.

Right-click the column header Level and select Hide Column.
Hide the remaining columns that are not used in the report.

Reorder columns.

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Dont confuse the column Configs with Configuration. Configs lists all
the configurations of the particular file. Configuration lists the specific
configuration used by the parent document.

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Drag the column header for Number to the left until it is the second
column. Move the remaining columns by dragging their headers until
they are in the correct order.

You cannot move the Document column, it will always be in the first
position.

Note

If these are the columns we will use regularly, we can save this report
format.

o
D

Save header state.

Right-click in any header and select Save header state.

7

Output the report to a file.

There are many more formatting option available in Excel. Output the
file as a comma delimited file.
Click Output to file.
8

File type.

Type Tool Vise for the file name and select CSV (Comma
delimited) (*.csv) for the file type.

Save the file to the C:\Working directory. Click Save.

Exercise 7

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Start Excel.

10 Open the CSV file.

In Excel, open the Tool Vise.csv file.

11 File type.

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The first column in the report is File type. This column information
comes from the Document column in the PDMWorks report. In the
PDMWorks report, the file type was shown as an icon.

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Once the report is opened in Excel, you can remove the File type
column.

12 Customize the report.

Customize the report using Excel.

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13 Sort the data.

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Using Excel, sort the data by Number.

14 Close the spreadsheet.

Save the modified spreadsheet as an Excel (*.xls) file and close

Excel.

15 Close the Reporting window.

16 Check in the spreadsheet.

In the Vault View, right-click the Tool Vise assembly and select
Check In From Disk.

Select the spreadsheet and create an association with the Tool Vise
assembly.

Exercise 7

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Exercise 8:
Revision and
Lifecycle
Bumping

The Tool Vise assembly is ready to be released for manufacturing.

Within our company, the files must first be moved to the lifecycle
Pending where they will be reviewed by Jim Jones. Once reviewed, he
will move them to the Released lifecycle with the first revision number
for a released document.
Display labels.

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Right-click in the Vault

View and select Display
labels With. Select Owner
and Status.

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student1 owns all the

parts.

Update status.

Right-click the Tool Vise

assembly and select Change
Lifecycle Status.
Select the Pending status.

Select All Children and clear Do

not change if document is a

link.

Click OK.

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Review the results.

Because the change in

lifecycle status changes the
ownership to Jim Jones
(password: jim), you cant
get ownership of the files
to make additional
changes unless Jim Jones
Disowns them first.

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Note

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The lifecycle rules, set up

by the administrator,
change the owner to Jim
Jones once documents
move into the Pending
status.

Logout/Login

Logout as student1 and Log in as Jim Jones.

Bump the revision.

After reviewing the assembly and its

files, Jim will bump the revision to A
and change the lifecycle to Released.

Right-click the Tool Vise assembly

and select Bump Revision.

Select Specify and then Other from the

list.
Type A for the new revision.

Apply the change to the assembly and

all children. Clear Do not change if
document is a link.

Click OK.

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Update lifecycle status.

Right-click the Tool Vise

assembly and select Change
Lifecycle Status.

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Apply the update to the assembly

and all children. Clear Do not
change if document is a link.

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Select the new status of

Released.

Click OK.

View the results.

Within our company, when

documents are in the Released
lifecycle there is no owner and the
only people with write access are in
the Document Control group.
All engineers and designers have
write access which allows them to
use these files in other assemblies
and to modify them for ECOs.

Close all open files.

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 4
Templates, Toolbox, and Files
That are Not Revision
Managed

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Q

Manage template files.

Manage Toolbox parts.

Manage common parts.

Delete files from the vault.

Archive files.

Use advanced search to locate files.

Control revisions of configurations.

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Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

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Lesson 4
Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

Template Files

Company controlled template files can be handled through the

PDMWorks vault. Whether or not to add templates to the vault depends
on whether or not you need revision control on the files. If revision
control is not needed, a master copy of each template may be kept in
the vault for security purposes.

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Because files in the vault cannot be read directly from a client

workstation, template files must be copied to the local workspace or a
common, shared drive.
Procedure

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This procedure is an easy way to maintain templates that are controlled

at the company level and need revision control.

1. Create the company part, assembly and drawing templates.

2. Create a Template project to hold all the templates.
3. Assign write access to the Template project to the person
responsible for maintaining the templates.
4. Assign read-only access to everyone who will use the templates.
5. Check in the templates to the Template project.
6. Users copy the templates to their computer or a common shared
location using PDMWorks open.
7. In SolidWorks, users set the File Location option to the directory
where the templates are stored.
Using this method, the only change in the way users will use templates
is that they must periodically check the Local View to make sure that
their local copies are still the same as those is in the vault. If a template
is changed in the vault, the Local View of the template will have its
icon change from equal to the vault to older than the vault . Use
Update/Reload All From Vault to get the current copy downloaded to
the local drive.

Case Study:
Create a
Template
Project

This case study will establish a drawing template as the company

standard. Betty Black will be in charge of the templates.

Create drawing templates.

The company has two drawing templates that it has approved for use.
They are located in the Lesson03\Case Study\Templates
directory.
2

The Templates project.

The Vault Administrator has created a project for common files with a
sub-project called Templates. The project description is Drawing
Templates.

Template Files

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Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

Project permissions.

Betty Black has been assigned write permission to the Templates

project and everyone else has been granted read-only permission.
Log in as Betty Black (password bet).

Drag and Drop

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Using drag and drop in PDMWorks provides a quick method for many
operations.

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Some of the operations that may be done by drag and drop:

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Open a SolidWorks document by dragging it from the Local View

into an open SolidWorks window.
Check in a document by dragging it from the Local View to a
project in the Vault View.
Check in a document by dragging it from Windows Explorer to a
project in the Vault View.
Create a three view drawing by dragging a file from the Vault View
to an open drawing document.
Add a part or and assembly to an assembly by dragging it from the
Vault View to an open assembly.

Check in by drag and drop.

In the Local View, locate the

Templates directory in the
Lesson04\Case Study
directory.

Drag the file

SW C size.drwdot from
the Local View and drop it on
the Drawing Templates
project in the Vault View.

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Lesson 4
Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

Properties.

This document is already released and in use throughout the company.

Betty will change the lifecycle to Released, then change the revision
to A, the first revision number in the released sequence.
Select the Status cell and select Released from the list.

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Add a note Initial check in, then click Check In.

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Because the template has already been released, the file revision should
be A. Select the Revision cell and type A.

Check the results.

The template is now in the Drawing Templates project, at revision A

and a lifecycle status of Released.

Check in the second template.

Check in the second template by dragging it to the Templates

project.
Set the revision to A and the lifecycle is Released.
8

Take Ownership.

Betty did not get ownership of the files when they were dragged and
dropped.
Select both templates in the Vault View and right-click either, then click
Take Ownership.
9

Drag and Drop

Close all open files.

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10 Change client.

Betty is responsible for maintaining the master templates in the vault.

Now we will change our viewpoint to that of one of the users.
Logout as Betty Black and log in as Bob White.
11 Create a local copy.

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The recommended procedure in SolidWorks for storing templates is to

use a directory outside the C:\Program Files\SolidWorks path
so that templates are not lost when SolidWorks is reloaded.

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Create a directory called SolidWorks Common\PDMWorks

templates.

12 Copy the templates.

Now that the templates exist in the vault, we need a local copy for
SolidWorks to use.
In the Vault View right-click the template A-size portrait
template and select Open / Check Out Document.
We dont actually want to open this file, we only want it to be copied to
the template directory.

For the Save In Folder, click Browse

and navigate to the
PDMWorks template directory we just created.

Clear the option Open now. By clearing this option the file will be
copied but not opened.

Click Open.

13

Refresh the Local View.

Right-click in the Local View and select

Refresh View.
Select the PDMWorks templates directory and the template will be
found there with the icon to show that it is equal to the vault.

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Lesson 4
Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

14 Drag and drop copy.

Drag the SW C size template

from the Vault View to the
PDMWorks templates
directory in the Local View.
15 Set SolidWorks options.

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To use these templates, set

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An easier way to copy a file

from the vault is just to drag
and drop it.

Tools, Options, System

Options, File Location,
Document Templates to this

directory.

16 Change template.

At some time, the template

may need to change. Betty
will make a minor change in
the C size template.
Logout as Bob and log in as
Betty.

Create a new drawing using the SW C size template.

17 Edit the sheet format.

Change the color of the company name SolidWorks from black to red.
Save the template to the directory
C:\Working.

The Local View shows the template with

the to show that it is newer that the document in the vault.

18 Check in the template.

Right-click the Templates project in the Vault View and select

Check In From Disk.
Navigate to the Working directory and select the SW C size
template.
Click Open.

19 PDMWorks Warning.

Select the template file. This template has the same name as the
template in the vault but the internal ID is different because we just
created this file as a new document.
Click Check In.

Drag and Drop

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20 Take Ownership.

Because this is a new document, Betty must take ownership of the new
file.
21 Check in.

The drawing template is listed in red text because on the difference in

internal ID.

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The Number, Description and Owner should be correct. Change the

Status to Released and the revision to B.

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Add a note to reflect the change we made to the template.

Click Check In.

22 Local copy.

The Local View now shows that the copy of

the template on our local drive is older
than the copy in the vault.

Local Files Out of

Date

It is common, in a collaborative environment, that you may be working

on an assembly that uses parts owned by someone else. If that person
checks in a new version of their part, the part in your local workspace
will be out of date.

Introducing:
Update/Reload from
Vault

Update/Reload From Vault provides an easy way to update the local

Where to Find It

166

copies of a file or multiple files from the vault. If a file is open, it will
also be reloaded it into memory.
Right-click a file in the Local View and select Update/Reload
From Vault or Update/Reload All From Vault.

Drag and Drop

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23 Update local copy.

We could just reload this one

file, but instead we will
update all the files on our
local drive to be the same as
the vault.

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In the Local View, right-click

the file C size template
and select Update/Reload
All From Vault.

Select Local version is

older and Document is currently open in SolidWorks.
Click OK.

Before

After

24 Close all open files.

Toolbox Parts

There are several methods to control Toolbox parts using PDMWorks.

The overriding issue when determining how to manage Toolbox parts is
whether or not the parts need revision control.
If revision control is not required, use the master Toolbox parts from a
common directory and do not check them into the vault.

If revision control is required, use the Copy option, in Toolbox, and

check in the parts.

Toolbox Master
Parts

Careful thought should be given to which method you will use before
implementation.
Standard Toolbox parts are created as configurations of the master part
files loaded with Toolbox. Using this method, Toolbox parts are not
checked in with the assemblies.
When Toolbox is installed, each workstation loads the Toolbox
software but not the master part files database. It is loaded on a shared
drive accessible to all users.

Toolbox Parts

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Toolbox Copy
Parts

The Always create copy option within Toolbox allows users to make
copies of the Toolbox master parts when parts are inserted into
assemblies. Toolbox stores these parts in a Toolbox sub-directory
named \Toolbox Parts\Copied Parts\ or another
directory of the users choosing.

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If Toolbox is configured to copy parts, then PDMWorks can be

configured to allow check in of Toolbox parts and to delete local
copies.

For more information on using Toolbox see the SolidWorks File

Management training course or the CAD Productivity Tools Step-byStep self study guide.

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More on Toolbox

Identifying
Toolbox Parts

When Toolbox creates a part, it adds an internal flag to the file to

identify the part as a Toolbox part. PDMWorks distinguishes Toolbox
parts both by where they are located and by the internal flag. Any part
that is located in a directory with \Toolbox Parts\, \Toolbox\,
or \SolidWorks Data\ in its path name or is in a directory
specified by the administrator, is considered to be a Toolbox part.

Case Study:
Adding Toolbox
Parts

Bob White needs to add some

fasteners to assembly
SB10162001_A1 to hold the
circuit board to the frame.

Log in.

Log in as Bob White.

Check out the assembly.

Check out the assembly SB10162001-A1.

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Turn on Toolbox and Toolbox Browser.

Click Tools, Add-Ins.

Select Toolbox and Toolbox Browser.

Click OK.

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Toolbox Method

Set Toolbox options.

Select Browser
Configuration from the
Toolbox menu. Select the
Browser tab, then
Document Properties.

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The method to handle Toolbox parts should be decided during

PDMWorks installation, then not changed. Within our company, the
method chosen was to create copies of Toolbox parts, then check them
into the vault.

Select Always create

copy.

Make sure the Copy Directory is set to \common

files\solidworks data\CopiedParts.

Select Error when writing to a read-only document.

Click OK.

Add fasteners to the

assembly.

Use the Design Library to

drag and drop the following
2mm ANSI Metric
fasteners to the hole shown:

Two Flat washers,

narrow (B18.22M, 2
mm)

Socket head cap screw (B18.3.1, 2.5 x 0.45 x 6)

Hex nut Style 1 (B18.2.4.1 M2.5 x 0.45)

Add the second washer.

If we try to add the

second washer as a
separate command, we
get the choice to use the
previously created washer
or create yet another
copy.
Click Use Existing.

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View the references.

After all the fasteners have been added, click File, Find References.
The fasteners copies are in the \common files\solidworks
data\CopiedParts\ directory.

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Click Close.

Save the assembly.

If we do not save the assembly, PDMWorks will issue the message:

Document <name> needs to be saved before check in.
Would you like to save the document now?
Click OK to save the assembly.

Check in the assembly.

The Toolbox parts are designated by the

icon and may be checked
in with the assembly. The only references we will check in are the
fasteners as none of the other references have changed. Select Delete
local copy for the references.

Click Check In.

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Normally we delete the local copies so that when we check out the
assembly the next time, we will check out all the fasteners to the
Working directory.

Note

10 The Vault View.

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The Vault View shows that the Toolbox parts have been checked in and
are referenced by the assembly.

Files That are

Not Revision
Managed

There are several classes of files that need to be controlled and

managed, but do not require revision control. These might include such
items as fasteners, purchased parts, library parts or templates.
PDMWorks can be configured to show these files and their
relationships in the vault, without actually saving the files themselves
in the vault.

Toolbox Master
Part Files

If we were using master part files instead of copied files, the

administrator would have set up our vault so that we could not check in
Toolbox parts.
Additionally, the vault may be set up so that referenced files are shown
in a separate project.

Vault Settings
Change

The Instructor will use the VaultAdmin tool to change the vault settings
to:
Q
Q

Deleting
Documents

Disable the check in of documents

And, to view referenced files in a separate project.

Permission to delete documents in the vault is controlled by the vault

administrator. It can be given to everyone, no one or just
administrators.
Documents should not be deleted if there is a reference to the
document. If a part was used in an assembly, then later deleted from the
assembly in a later revision, the part should not be deleted from the
vault as it is still referenced by the old revision of the assembly.
You must own a document to delete it.

Rollback to
Previous Revision

Occasionally, files are checked into the vault and have their revision
bumped when that was not the intent of the owner. The Delete/
Rollback command also allows the revision to be rolled back to a
previous revision plus deleting all files newer than the selected
revision.

Files That are Not Revision Managed

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Where to Find It

Q
Q

Right-click the document in the Vault View and select Delete/

Rollback.
Or, select the document in the Vault View and press the Delete key.
Or, select the document and click
on the PDMWorks Standalone
Client toolbar.

Before deleting a file it is always important to determine where the file

is used.

Case Study: Not

Revision
Managed Files

This case study will demonstrate a different method to handle Toolbox

parts. In this example, the Toolbox parts will be created as
configurations of the Master Part files and not checked into the vault.

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Important!

In practical application, this method and the method shown in the

previous case study are never used together. Management makes the
decision during implementation as to which method will be used, then
it is not changed.
To demonstrate this method, we will first remove the fasteners added in
the previous case study and delete the fasteners from the vault along
with the revision of the assembly that used the fasteners.

Delete the assembly revision.

In the Vault View, right-click the assembly SB10162001-A1 and

select Delete/Rollback.
Select Rollback to a revision, deleting later revisions. The latest
revision is -.02 and we want to rollback to revision -.01.

Click OK.

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PDMWorks question.
Click OK to confirm that you want to rollback the revision.

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Review the results.

The assembly is now at revision -.01 and the three fasteners that were
checked in when the assembly was bumped to revision -.02 have
moved out from under the assembly as it no longer references them.

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After

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Before

Delete the fasteners.

Locate the three fasteners that are now under the ink_jet_top_assy.
Select all three and then right-click one of them. Select Delete/
Rollback.

Select Delete from the vault, deleting all revisions and Delete
selected document.
Click OK and all three fasteners will be removed from the vault.

Set Toolbox options.

Select Browser
Configuration from the
Toolbox menu. Select
Document Properties on
the Browser tab.

Select No copy (always

use master part file).

Refresh Vault View.

When changes are made to the vault settings, they do not apply to the
user until either the Vault View is refreshed or the user logs out and
back in.

Select Always change read-only status of document before

writing. This allows the new configurations to be saved to the master
part files. Click OK.

Right-click the Vault View and click Refresh Vault View.

7

Check out the assembly.

Check out the assembly SB10162001_A1, overwriting the files in the

working directory.
8

Add Toolbox parts.

Add the same 2mm ANSI Metric fasteners to the hole shown.
Q

Two Flat washers, narrow (B18.22M, 2 mm)

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Socket head cap screw (B18.3.1, 2.5 x 0.45 x 6)

Hex nut Style 1 (B18.2.4.1 M2.5 x 0.45)

Find References.

Click File, Find References.

The parts used for these instance of the fasteners are the master part
files located in \Common Files\SolidWorks
Data\browser\.
Click Close.

10 Save the assembly.

Right-click in the Vault View and click Check in Active Document.

11 Check In the assembly.

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. For Revision, each

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The three fasteners appear as new references

shows that it is Not Revision Managed.

If you try to check in a Toolbox part, PDMWorks will issue a message

that says:
Check In of Toolbox and Library Documents is not
allowed by administrator.
Click Check In.

12 Toolbox References.

The three fasteners are listed in the assembly as links and are listed in a
separate project called Toolbox References. Each is listed in blue to
show it is not revision managed.

13 Close all open files.

14 Use SolidWorks File Explorer to delete all the files in the

Working directory.

15 Open the assembly.

Open the assembly SB10162001-A1 from the Vault View with all its
references. The Toolbox parts are not opened from the vault because
they are not in the vault, they are in the \SolidWorks
Data\browser\ directory.
If you try to select the Toolbox parts you will get a warning that they
are standard library documents and can not be opened.
Click Open / Check Out.

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Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

16 Click File, Find References.

All the fasteners are not in the Working directory as they do not exist
in the vault. They were all found in the master part files.

Design Library

Click Close.
The design library provides a simple method to store and reuse
features, parts and assemblies. In a multi-user environment, the Design
Library needs to be set up to use common directories accessible to
everyone so that each designer uses the same version of the common
parts and fasteners.
PDMWorks can be used in place of or in conjunction with the Design
Library to ensure that everyone is using the approved and released
versions of common parts and features.

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There are two approaches when using common parts. Again the basic
question to be answered is: do we need revision control on these parts?
Common Part
Shared Folder

This approach is essentially the same as using Toolbox master parts.

All the common parts are moved to a common shared folder and each
user establishes the path to the common folder in the Solidworks
Options. Because these parts are not checked into the vault, they can be
edited by anyone and will not be subject to revision control.

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The Vault Administrator can add the directories of the Design Library
to the list of Not Revision Managed directories. When parts or
assemblies from the Design Library are part of an assembly being
checked in, they will not be checked into the vault, but will show up in
their own project with links to them under the assembly.

Common Parts
Project

The common parts project uses PDMWorks in essentially the same way
as the project we set up for templates. Common parts are checked into
this project and controlled by a librarian. Because these parts are checked
into the vault, they are subject to ownership and revision control.
This common parts project behaves just like the Design Library in that
we can just drag and drop files from the vault into our active document.

17 The Common Parts project.

The administrator has created a project called Common Parts with a

sub-project for Fasteners.

The parts librarian is Greg Johnson who has write permission while
everyone else has read permission.

18 Logout/Log in.

Logout, then log in as Greg Johnson (Password: gre).

Because the vault administrator has Bind Ownership selected, all the
open files will become read only as Greg does not own any of the open
files. PDMWorks will advise us of the change.

Note

19 Local View.

The vault already

has some fasteners
checked in. Greg
will add some
additional fasteners.
In the Local View,
navigate to the
Lesson04\Case
Study\Fasteners directory.
The directory contains the new fastener parts to be checked in.

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20 Check In the part files.

Drag and drop each fastener in turn to the Common Parts project. To
save time in class, do not add numbers and descriptions as the parts are
being checked in.
Close all the fastener files after they are checked in.

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To reduce the display size of the vault and to increase performance, we

can limit the display of documents to a maximum number per group.
Documents are placed in folders named with the first and last document
in the folder.

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Document Ranges

Where to Find It

In the Client Options, type the maximum number for the document
range. To turn off this function, type 0 for the value.

21 Set document range.

Because we have only a few fasteners in this project, we would like to

see all the fasteners in the project. Click PDMWorks Options
on
the PDMWorks toolbar.
Type 0 for value.

Click OK to close the PDMWorks Options.

178

22 Logout/Log in.

When all the fasteners have been checked in, logout as Greg Johnson
and log in as Bob White.

Case Study: Not Revision Managed Files

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23 Add fasteners to the

assembly.

Common Parts

Add the following fasteners

by dragging them from the
Common Parts project in the
Vault View:
Q

Toolbox
Master Parts

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Two 2mm washers

2.5 x 0.45 x 6 Socket Head
Cap screw
M2.5 x 0.45 hex nut

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All these parts were created

with mate references that will allow them to snap into place with Smart
Mates.

24 Save the assembly.

25 Check in the assembly.

The only file that has actually changed is the assembly as it now has
more parts and mates. The three fasteners do not have to be checked in
because they are the same as the vault. They are all read-only because
they are owned by someone else (Greg Johnson).
Notice that none of the fasteners have the Toolbox icon
just parts as far as PDMWorks is concerned.

as they are

Click Check In.

Master Part Files

Common Parts

}
}

26 Vault.

The Vault View shows the differences in the two methods of adding
Toolbox parts.

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With the Common Parts project the parts are owned by the part
librarian (Greg Johnson) and remain in the Common Parts project.

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With the parts not revision managed, the parts are put in a separate
project but are not actually in the vault.

27 Close all open files.

While this case study used fasteners as an example of common parts, it

is better to use Toolbox rather than common parts to add fasteners. By
using the common parts method, we were not able to use the additional
features provided by Toolbox such as the ability to use Smart Fasteners
or add fasteners to multiple locations at the same time.

Note

Trash Project

Administrators generally do not want individual users to delete files

because of the difficulties that can occur if a referenced file is deleted.
An alternate approach is the use of a Trash or Delete project.
A Trash project is a project where users place files that they want
deleted. The administrator sets up the vault so that only the
administrator can delete files and everyone has write access to the
Trash project.
The administrator must periodically delete files placed in the Trash
project after insuring that the files are not referenced by any other files.

Revision
Bumping

Where to Find It

Revisions can be bumped to a new revision number without opening

the file. You must have ownership of the file and the administrator must
have enabled revision bumping.
Q
Q

Right-click the file and select Bump Revision.

Or, click
on the PDMWorks Standalone Client toolbar.

Adding Notes

Notes can also be added to files in the vault without opening the files.

Where to Find It

Q
Q

180

Right-click the file and select Add Note.

Or, click
on the ProjectManager toolbar.

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Case Study:
Revision
Bumping

Brian is ready to have the Carriage Lifter Arm released to

manufacturing. Our company procedure is to have the designer bump
the revision then change the lifecycle status to Pending.

Logout/Login.

Logout and then log in as Brian Hursch.

Bump revision.

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He does not need to open the part; he will bump the revision and
change the lifecycle status to Pending right from the vault.

Right-click the Carriage Lifter

Arm part L10172001.02 in the Vault
View and select Bump revision.
Select Next logical revision for each.
The next logical revision is -.07.
Add the note Changed status to
Pending.
Click OK.

Update lifecycle status.

Right-click the Carriage Lifter

Arm part L10172001.02 in the
Vault View and select Change
Lifecycle Status.
Click OK.

Select Pending from the list.

Note

Within our system, we had to bump the revision before changing

lifecycle status to Pending. This is because our lifecycle rules change
the owner of the document to Jim Jones when it is in the Pending
lifecycle. If we had changed the lifecycle first, we would no longer own
the file and could not bump the revision.

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Add a note.

The old Carriage Lifter Arm L10172001.01 is no longer used in the

assembly. We will add a note to the file to indicate it was replaced in
the assembly.
Right-click the part L10172001.01 and select Add Note. Type
Replaced by part L10172001.01.

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Click Add Note.

Removing Files
From the Vault

Document Information.
Use Document Information to see that the note is attached under
History/Notes.

As projects progress, the vault will continue to grow as it maintains a

copy of every revision of every part. To reduce the storage
requirements of the vault, documents can be deleted or archived.
If documents are not used and not referenced by other documents in
any revision, they may be deleted from the vault. If documents are only
used in old revisions but need to be maintained or are in no longer
active projects, they may be archived.
The location where files are archived is set by the vault administrator.

Introducing:
Archive/Restore
Documents

Documents can be archived to other storage locations outside the vault.

If needed later, then can be restored to the vault.

Where to Find It

Note

Users can only archive individual documents. The vault administrator

has additional tools available to archive entire projects.

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Right-click a document in the Vault View and select Archive/

Restore Document.

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Explain Access

Understanding your specific access to a file can be sometimes

confusing due to the number of different places access can be
controled.

Introducing: Explain
Access

Explain Access provides a list of all permissions for the current user to
a particular file.

Where to Find It

Case Study:
Remove Files
From The Vault

In this case study, old revisions of a file will be archived, then other
files will be deleted from the vault.

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Right-click a file in the Vault View and select Explain Access.

Archive a part.

As the design process progresses,

Brian will archive the old revision of
the Carriage Lock.

In the Vault View, right-click the part

L10172001-02 and select Archive/
Restore.
Select the -.01 revision.

Click OK.

PDMWorks question.

Because the file will be removed from the vault, we are reminded that
the file will not be available.
Click Yes on the message dialog.

Open Document.

In the Vault View, right-click the part L10172001-02 and select

Open / Check Out Document.

Click Cancel.

Select Revision -.01 in the list. It is listed as Archived and the Open
button is grayed out.

Explain Access

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Check graphic

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Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

Other Indicators.

Right-click the part L10172001-02 and select Explain Access.

Select -.01 (Archived) from the Revision list.

Examine the list. When done, click Close.

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Restore the file.

In the Vault View, right-click the part

L10172001-02 and select Archive/
Restore Document.
The default Task is to Archive. Only
the -.02 (latest) revision is available.

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Click Restore.

There is only one revision to restore.

Select the -.01 revision.

Click OK. The -.01 revision has now

been restored in the vault.

Open Document.

In the Vault View, right-click the part

L10172001-02 and select Open
Document.

Select Revision -.01 in the list. It is no

longer listed as Archived and the
Open button no longer grayed out.
Click Cancel.

Close all open files.

Log in as Greg Johnson.

As far as we know, none of these fasteners have yet to be used in an

assembly, so there should be no references to them.

Greg added some fasteners to the library that the company has chosen
not to use.

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Delete a washer.

Locate the Fasteners

project in the vault and
right-click the part flat
washer narrow 3.5mm
and select Delete/
Rollback.

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Click OK to confirm the

deletion and Yes to the
question.
10 Delete a nut.

Select the part hex nut

M4 x 0.7.
Press the Delete key.

Click OK to confirm the deletion and Yes to the question.

11 Delete a screw.

Select the part socket head

cap screw 2.5x0.45x6.

Press the Delete key then OK. We

are warned that this part is being
referenced by another file. If we
click OK, the screw will be deleted which may cause problems later.
Click Dont Delete.

12 Determine where used.

Right-click part socket head cap screw 2.5x0.45x6 in the

Vault View and select Document Information.
Select the Where Used tab.

Click Close.

This part is used in the assembly SB10162001-A1. This part should

not be deleted unless the assembly referencing it is deleted first.

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Advanced Search

Advanced search allows the vault to be searched using multiple search

criteria with logical operators. You can search for configurationspecific properties, search hidden project, and generate a report from
the results.

Operators

Operators that can be used in the search are:

Text String Operators

is (exactly)

not =

is not

>

contains

<

does not contain

>=

is empty

<=

is not empty

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Numeric Operators

Case Study:
Advanced
Search

Use the advanced search to locate all files in the vault that are made of
a specific material and also have a cost value assigned.

Login as Brian Hursch.

Start the search.

Click

Advanced search.
Click the Advanced button if the simple search dialog appears.

on the Vault toolbar.

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Add search criteria.

From the Property pull down list select Material.

Material properties are text so we will use a text string operator. Select
is (exactly) for Condition.
Type ABS for Value and click Add.

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The first criteria has been added to the Criteria list.

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Add additional search criteria.

We want to search for all parts that are not only ABS but also have a
cost assigned. Select And.
From the Property list select Cost.

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Click Add. Both criteria now appear in the list.

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Cost is a numeric property. If a cost is assigned, it will have a value

greater than zero. Select > (greater than) for the Condition and type 0
(the number zero) for the value.

Case Study: Advanced Search

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Generate a report.

Rather than see the files that match the criteria one at a time, we can
generate a report to show them all at once.

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Click Generate Report.

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The report.

The report has all the features of the reports generated previously from
the vault. It can be customized by hiding and moving columns. Once
customized the header state can be saved.
Hide all columns except Document, Description, Project and Cost.

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There are 30 files that match our criteria.

The report can also be outputted to a text or comma delimited file to be

used in other applications.
8

Edit the report.

Individual cells in the grid based dialog boxes can be edited by the
owners of the individual files. Brian is the owner of two files that are
shown in the report, L10172001.01 and L10172001-02. He
notices that the cost of one of these parts is wrong.
Select the Cost cell for the part L10172001.01 (current cost .25)
and type .30. The property is updated to 30 cents.

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Close the report.

10 Save search criteria.

If the search criteria will be used again, it can be saved, then reloaded
as necessary.
Click Save Criteria.

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Save the file as ABS_Cost.sqy.

To avoid loosing the SW Property Criteria file, either save it to the

SolidWorks Common directory as discussed in the File Management
training course or check the file into the vault.

Note

11 Close all open files.

Managing
Configuration
Revisions

To manage parts or assemblies with configurations requires some

additional steps. The revision assigned to a part or assembly relates to
the file itself, not individual configurations of the part or assembly.
To add revision numbers to configurations, we must do it through the
configuration specific file properties.

Case Study:
Configuration
Revisions

In this case study we will look at one sub-assembly of the ink jet
printer. The printer will have two primary configurations, one for 8.5
by 11 inch paper and another for 11 by 17 inch paper. Many of the parts
and sub-assemblies must also have these two configurations.

Log in as Brian Hursch.

Check out.

Check out the assembly Trey_assy_paper_output.

There are three parts to this assembly, External_Trey,
External_Trey1 and External_Trey2. The part paper is for
visual display only.

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Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

Open a part.

Open the part External_Trey in its own window.

4

File properties.
Click File, Properties, then select the Custom tab.

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These are the properties for the file itself. The property Revision was
filled in by PDMWorks.

Modify properties.

For both the properties of Number and Description, add the value See

Configuration.

Configuration Specific properties.

Select the tab Configuration Specific.

From the list, Apply to: should be set to This Configuration(Default).

Add the following properties and values:

Number: 20002001-01
Description: 8.5 x 11
Revision: A

Case Study: Configuration Revisions

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Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

Add properties to another configuration.

From the Apply to list select 11 x 17.

Add the following properties and values:

Number: 20002001-02
Description: 11 x 17
Revision: C

Click OK to close Summary Information.

Check in the assembly.

Make the Trey_assy_paper_output assembly window active.

Right-click in the Vault View and select Check In Active Document.

As we have only added properties to the file, we do not want to bump

the revision. Select the Revision column header. In the input box,
change the revision to -.01 and click Apply.
Click Check In.

Report.

Right-click the Trey_assy_paper_output assembly in the Vault

View and select Reporting.
When Config is set to [None selected], the report shows the properties
from the Custom tab. When a specific configuration is selected, the
properties from the Configuration Specific tab are shown.
Close the report.

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Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

10 Search.

In the Vault View select the Trey_assy_paper_output assembly.

Click Search

on the Vault toolbar.

Select the Advanced Search.

11 Create search criteria.

Create a search for parts with 11 x 17 in their description.

Select Description from the pull-down list for Property.
Select contains for Condition.
Type 11 x 17 for the Value.
Click Add.

Select Ignore case and clear Ignore links and Search configuration
specific properties.

Because we pre-selected the Trey_assy_paper_output

assembly, it is listed under Scope and Search only children of is
selected. This will limit the search to just this assembly and its children.

Case Study: Configuration Revisions

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Templates, Toolbox, and Files That are Not Revision Managed

12 Generate Report.
Click Generate Report.

The report will not show any files with this criteria because it is only
searching the properties of the file itself, not the configurations.
Click Close.

13 Search again.

Select Search configuration specific properties.

Click Generate Report.

The search now finds the Trey_assy_paper_output assembly

and the three files it references because they all have a description
containing 11 x 17.

14

Close the Search Results and Search Criteria.

15 Close all files.

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Exercise 9:
Create A
Fastener
Library

Your company has decided to use only a selected set of fasteners in its
product line. You (student2) have been tasked to be the fastener
librarian and to create a fastener library in the vault.
Use Toolbox to create fasteners, then check them into the Fastener
project.

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1/4 inch flat washer, Preferred Wide Flat Type A

1/4-20 x 1 hex head bolt
1/4-20 nut

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For this exercise, create the following fasteners:

Log in.

Log in as student2. Student2 has Read/Write permission to the Fastener

project.

Create a new assembly.

Toolbox creates fasteners when inserting them into an assembly. We

dont need any other parts in the assembly.
Set the assembly units to inch.

Set Toolbox options.

Set the Toolbox browser configuration to create copies.

Set the Copy Directory to C:\Working.

Insert a washer.

Use Toolbox to create a 1/4 inch flat washer, Preferred Wide Flat Type
A, by dragging it from the Design Library to the assembly.
5

Open the part.

Right-click the washer and select Open Part.

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Mate Reference.

Check the mate reference. To make sure

that the part will correctly mate when
dragged and dropped into an assembly, it
must have a mate reference. Because we are
using Toolbox to create the part, it should
have the correct mate reference.

Mate
Reference

Repeat.

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Select the MateReference icon in the FeatureManager design tree and

to make sure the edge shown is the referenced edge.
Use the same procedure to create the nut and hex head bolt.

Close the assembly.

In order to delete the parts during check in, the assembly must be
closed.

Rename.

The custom fasteners we created use the default names created by

Toolbox. To prevent problems with other parts created by Toolbox we
will rename the fasteners.
Use Save As to create parts with the new names:
Q
Q
Q

Flat Washer .25

Hex Bolt .25x20x1
Hex Nut .25x20

10 Check in the parts.

Check the three parts into the Fasteners project.

Retain ownership and delete the local copy.

11 Logout.

Logout as student2 and log in as student1.

12 Open an assembly.

Open the Plate Assembly located in \Lesson04\Exercises

folder.

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13 Add fasteners.

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Add two 1/4 inch

washers, the hex bolt
and hex nut to one of
the holes by dragging
and dropping them
from the vault.

14 Check in.

Check in the assembly to the Student projects project.

The three fasteners do not get checked in because they are already in
the vault.

15 Check the vault.

The three fasteners are listed

under the assembly but they are
read-only links to the Fastener
project and owned by the
fastener librarian (student2).

16 Files.

Leave the assembly open for the next exercise.

Exercise 9

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Exercise 10:
Toolbox Parts

In this exercise we will add fasteners to the same assembly as the

previous exercise using Toolbox.

Set Options.
Click Tools, Options, then select
Collaboration.

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Select all five options. Select 1

minute from the pull-down list.

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In our system, PDMWorks is configured to allow the check in of

Toolbox parts. In the last exercise, we set up Toolbox to create new
parts, rather than use the master part files.

Click OK.

Add Toolbox parts.

Use the Design Library to add two

washers, a bolt and nut to each of
the three remaining holes.

Because we are using Toolbox we

can add more than one fastener at a
time. Control select the six hole
edges where we want the washers
to go. In the Design Library, rightclick the Preferred Wide Flat
Washer Type A and select Insert
Into Assembly.
Select the 1/4 inch size.

Click OK. Six washers will be added.

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Repeat.

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Use the same procedure to add the

three hex bolts and nuts.

Save the assembly.

Check in.

Check the assembly into the Student projects project.

We want the three Toolbox fasteners will be checked in because they do

not exist in the vault If we try to select the new fasteners, we will get a
warning message telling us we cannot check in a read-only document.

Get Write Access.

In the FeatureManager design tree, right-click one instance of the flat

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washer FW 0.25 and click Get Write Access. Repeat this for one
instance of HFBOLT 0.25-20x1x0.75-N and HNUT 0.250020-D-N.
Select each of the three fasteners to check in.
Click Check In.
Check the vault.

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The new fasteners are

checked into the project
Student projects
and are show with the
Toolbox icon.

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Close all open files.

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 5
PDMWorks Setup

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Q

Backup the vault.

Restore or change a vault.

Establish PDMWorks settings.

Add users and set permissions.

Control users by groups.

Change user passwords.

Create projects and set project permissions.

Create and define lifecycles.

Establish a revision scheme.

Add custom properties.

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PDMWorks Setup

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Lesson 5
PDMWorks Setup

To be a successful vault administrator, you must first be a competent

PDMWorks user. The topics covered in this and the following lesson
are intended for Vault Administrators only, after completing the first
four lessons of this course. Many of the items discussed in this lesson
affect the way the PDMWorks Client uses PDMWorks but the
procedures covered here should be transparent to the user.

The Vault
Administrator

The Vault Administrator is the person or persons who control the vault
settings and perform routine maintenance operations on the database. It
is more important for the administrators to understand how PDMWorks
is being used rather than how the computer system works. In large
organizations, it is generally a good idea to have a member of the IT
staff as one of the administrators, however administrators should
generally be SolidWorks and PDMWorks users.

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The Vault

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Administrator
Topics

To setup and maintain PDMWorks, Vault Administrators should have a

basic understanding of the vault and how it stores information.
There is one overriding rule when dealing with the vault:

Never alter the files in the vault manually.

PDMWorks runs as a service in the Windows environment. The vault

service is software that controls access to the vault through
PDMWorks. When the PDMWorks vault service is running, it is
constantly reading from and writing to various folders and files.
Interfering with these processes can result in undesired behavior.

There can only be one vault per computer. While we can have several
copies, only one vault, with the name VaultData (or pdmworks) can be
active. The location of the vault is set during installation and stored in
the registry.

Important!

Administrator Topics

The vault is a folder named either VaultData or

pdmworks depending on when the vault was initially
installed. Installations created with PDMWorks 2003
and earlier are named pdmworks and those created
with PDMWorks 2004 and later are named
VaultData. The vaults have five sub-directories.

Only the Vault Administrator should have read and write permissions,
through Windows, to the vault. PDMWorks clients should have
neither read nor write access to the vault through Windows.

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The Vault Folders

The vault folders are as follows:

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_TEMP
The temp directory maintains a list of transactions in progress.

obsolete

pdmrc

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The Obsolete folder is the PDMWorks equivalent to the

Windows Recycle Bin. This folder contains deleted projects. There
are other Obsolete folders in the projects and document folders
that contain deleted files.
The pdmrc folder contains the top level administrative files for the
vault. Contained here are: vault settings, software versions and
updates, user information and permissions, and revision scheme.

projects

The projects folder lists all the projects in the vault and the
documents in each project including all previous revisions.

updates

The updates folder stores the information to update the clients.

Most of the vault files that contain settings or database information

have the extension pdmw. These files are text files and can be read
using any text editor. While you can read these files with a text editor,
Do Not try to edit them with a text editor, serious consequences may
result!

Vault Backup

The vault can be backed up by saving a copy of the VaultData

directory to a new name such as VaultData_dd_mm_yy, where
dd_mm_yy is the backup date. Before making a copy of the vault,
either stop the PDMWorks service or lock the vault.

Vault
Restoration

The process of replacing a vault with a saved backup is essentially the

same as saving a backup except that we must do it with the PDMWorks
service stopped. Locking the vault is not sufficient.

Vault Settings
Files

206

To replace the existing vault with the backup:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Stop the PDMWorks service.

Rename the existing vault.
Copy the backup vault to the drive that the holds the vault.
Rename the backup to VaultData.
Start the PDMWorks service.

Vault Backup

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 5
PDMWorks Setup

Case Study:
Replace The
Vault

The case studies in this lesson start as if PDMWorks has just been
installed and we must take all the administrative actions to set it up to
run.

Stop the PDMWorks service.

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To begin setting up PDMWorks, we will first replace the vault we have

been using with a new vault. This new vault will be equivalent to the
empty vault installed during the initial PDMWorks installation.
Through this and the following case studies, this new vault will be
setup similar to the vault used in the first four lessons of this training
manual.
Vaults cannot be changed with the service running.

Click Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, then

Administrative Tools.

Double-click Services.

Right-click PDMWorks Server and select Stop.

Do not close the Services window.

Locate the vault.

Start Windows Explorer and locate the vault.

Vaults are normally located under the root directory,

but this is not a requirement.
Right-click the VaultData folder and select
Rename.
Rename the vault to VaultData_used.

Move the new vault.

Using Windows Explorer, copy the new vault (VaultData_New)

from:
Solidworks 2006 Training Files\PDMWorks\Vaults
to the same directory where the old vault is located.

Rename.

Rename the vault to VaultData.

There can only be one vault named VaultData.

Important!

Start the PDMWorks service.

Make the Services window active.

Right-click PDMWorks Server and select Start.
Close the Services window and Control Panel.

Case Study: Replace The Vault

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PDMWorks Setup

VaultAdmin
Tool

The VaultAdmin tool is the control panel for PDMWorks. It should

only be accessible to Vault Administrators. Using the VaultAdmin tool
we will setup user accounts, permissions, projects, revision and
lifecycle schemes and how the system handles library parts.

Where to Find It

User Accounts

Before a user can access PDMWorks, the administrator must create a

user account and assign permissions for the user. Once an account is
setup, the VaultAdmin tool provides additional methods to group users
to make their management easier.

User Groups

Modify User

Delete User

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Click Start, All Programs, PDMWorks 2006, PDMWorks 2006

VaultAdmin.

User groups provide a simple way to apply permissions to many users

at the same time. Users can be added to a group so that giving
permission to the group gives permission to all users in the group.
Modify user provides a method to correct errors in a user account such
as a change in E-mail address or to correct spelling. It also provides a
simple method to replace one user with another without loosing
ownership of files.
When you delete a user, any files owned by the deleted user will be
disowned.

Change Password

Change password can be used when a user forgets his password. The
administrator can assign a new password to the user without knowing
the old password.

Case Study:
User Accounts

When PDMWorks is first installed, there are three default users,

pdmwadmin, user_w and user_r. They represent the
administrator, a user with write access and a user with read-only access.

Start the VaultAdmin tool.

Start the VaultAdmin tool by clicking Start, All Programs,

PDMWorks 2006, PDMWorks 2006 VaultAdmin.

Type the default name pdmwadmin and the default password

pdmwadmin.

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PDMWorks Setup

For the Project vault, type the computer name where the vault is
located.
Click Login.
If the vault is on the same computer you are using to access the
VaultAdmin tool you can type localhost as the Vault computer.

Note
2

The VaultAdmin tool.

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The VaultAdmin tool has several tabs to control access to PDMWorks

and the procedures to be used to manage the files.

The graphics show the VaultAdmin tool for the Advanced Server. The
only difference between the Advanced Server and the standard is the
addition of the Triggers tab.

Note

Case Study: User Accounts

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PDMWorks Setup

Users & Groups.

The Users & Groups tab is used to add, delete or modify users and to

create groups and control their membership.

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Select the tab Users & Groups. The three default users are the only
users currently recognized by PDMWorks.

Create New User.

Click New User.

Type sam_smith for User name

and sam for the Password.

Type Sam Smith for Display

name and
[email protected] for
his Email.

Add the comment Electronics

designer as the Comment.
Select All document for
Documents visible to user.
Click OK.

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PDMWorks Setup

Add additional users.

Add three additional users using the data in the following table.
Password

Display name

Email

Comment

jim_jones

jim

Jim Jones

[email protected]

Group supervisor

bob_white

bob

Bob White

[email protected]

Mechanical systems

jane_doe

jan

Jane Doe

[email protected]

Ink system

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Name

The only field that is required to be filed in is the Username. If the

Password field is blank, the user can log on without a password.

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Note

Add additional users.

We will add a few additional users to help demonstrate the use of

groups.
Add the following users, just adding their names. All the remaining
fields may be left blank.
Q

Q
Q

Betty Black
Sally Brown

Brian Hursch
Greg Johnson

Case Study: User Accounts

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PDMWorks Setup

User Access by
Custom Property

The user accounts set up above, granted permissions to files based on

the project to which they are assigned. Additional restrictions to access
can be controlled through custom properties.
Through the user account settings, all documents that do not have a
specific custom property can be hidden from a user. This can limit
certain users from seeing projects outside their area of responsibility.

Changing
Passwords

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The administrator normally gives each user an initial password. The

first time a user logs into PDMWorks they should change their
password.

The administrator can change any users password from the

VaultAdmin tool without knowing the users current password. If a user
forgets his password, the administrator can simply assign a new
password.

Change the administrators

password.

When initially setting up the

PDMWorks system, it is good
practice to change the default
pdmwadmin password.

Select the user pdmwadmin and

click Modify.

Type the new password crow.

Type Administrator for
Display name.
Click OK.

There does not have to be a user named pdmwadmin. Once other users
are entered, one of them can be assigned as an administrator and the
pdmwadmin user can be deleted.

Note

Deleting Users

As users leave the company, their accounts should be removed from

PDMWorks. If the user owns any files, those files will be disowned
when the user is deleted.
8

Delete users.

Remove the two default users.

Select user_r and click Delete.
Click OK to confirm the deletion.

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PDMWorks Setup

Repeat for the other default user, user_w.

Groups

Users may be assigned to groups to make it easier to control

permissions to projects. Assigning a permission to a group assigns the
permission to all members of the group.

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Users may be assigned to any number of groups.

Case Study:
Groups

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To make it easier to assign project permissions, create a user group

called Engineers and include Jim, Bob, Jane and Sam.

Add a group.
Click New Group.

Type Engineers and click OK.

Add users to the group.

Select Bob White, Jane Doe, Jim

Jones and Sam Smith.

Note

Click Apply.

Case Study: Groups

Changes must always be applied. If you

forget to click Apply before selecting
something else, PDMWorks will question
you. If you do not apply the changes, they
will be lost.

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Modify a group.

Click Modify.
Type Engineers-Ink Jet Printer and click OK.
Add the Engineers group.

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As we start up another product line,

we need to create another group called
Engineers. To keep the groups
separate we want to modify this group
name to Engineers-Ink Jet
Printer.

Now that the first group has been renamed, create another group called
Engineers. Add Brian Hursch, Greg Johnson and Jim Jones to the
group.

Add another group.

Create a new group called Managers.

Add the following users to the group: Jim Jones, Sally Brown and
pdmwadmin.
Click Apply.

Projects

Projects provide the structure for documents stored in the vault. They
are like folders in Windows Explorer but they have a few differences
that we will see later.

Projects can have sub-projects to further break down the structure into
finer increments.

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PDMWorks Setup

The Projects tab.

The Projects tab is used to add projects and control user access to the

projects.
Select the Projects tab.

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There is one default project called sample. The users we just entered
are shown in the right pane.

Projects

Create New Project.

Click New Project.

Type Printer for the Project

name and Ink Jet Printer
(top level) for the Description.
Click OK.

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PDMWorks Setup

Project access sets the permissions regarding who may see, copy or
alter files. Permissions are granted to either individuals or groups and
can be either Read only access, Read/Write access or none.

Read Access

Read only access allows a user to see the documents in the vault, copy
the files to their local drive, and open them. Users, with read only
access, can not take ownership of the files nor check them back into the
vault.

Write Access

Write access allows users to take ownership of documents, check them

back into the vault, bump revisions, change lifecycle and optionally
delete them.

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Project Access

There are three ways to control user access. In addition to access by

project, access can also be controlled by lifecycle rules and by custom
properties.

Note

Set project access.

Write access will be granted to the Engineers-Ink Jet Printer group and
the vault administrator. Select the Engineers-Ink Jet Printer
group in the RW (read/write) column. The Engineers-Ink Jet
Printer group will have RW indicating the group has write access.
Each member of the group will have an rw indicating they have write
access derived from a group.

Select pdmwadmin in the RW column.

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Read access will be granted to everyone else. Select in the RO (readonly) column for everyone except those that have write access.
Permissions are color coded the same as for projects:
Q
Q
Q

Black - Write access

Orange - Read-only access
Gray - No access

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Click Apply.

Create sub-projects.

There are many logical sub-projects in the design of this printer. To

start, we will create the first two. Additional sub-projects can be added
later.
Click New Project.
Name the project Ink Cartridge
and make the Description Ink
Cartridge.
From the Parent list, select Printer.
This makes Ink Cartridge a
sub-project of the Printer.
Click OK.

Project Access

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Every project name and description must be unique. While both the
project name and description are both the same in this case, there
cannot be another project named Ink Cartridge and there cannot
be another description Ink Cartridge.

Important!

10 Sub-project access.

Add write permission for Greg Johnson.

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Click Apply.

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When the sub-project was created, it inherited the same permissions as

the parent project. Once the sub-project has been created, the
permissions may be changed.

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11 Add another project.

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Access is the same as the Printer,

except that Brian Hursch has write
access.

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Add an additional sub-project under

the printer called Electronics with a
description of Electronic
components.

Project Settings

In a company with only a few users, setting project permissions is

relatively easy. With larger companies, setting read and write access
could be more challenging. To make the process easier, permissions
can be copied from one project to another.

Introducing: Copy
Settings From...

Copy setting from allows the user permissions from one project to be

Case Study:
Copy Project
Settings

Create a new project under the top level and assign permissions the
same as an existing project.

Project Settings

copied and pasted into another project.

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Create a project.

Create a new project under the top level called Controller. The
project description is Sensor assembly.
As initially created, no one has any access to the project.
2

Assign permissions.
Click Copy Settings From.

Click OK.

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The new project Controller now has

the same write permissions as the project Printer.

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Select Printer from the list.

The sample project.

Apply read/write permission to everyone.

Select the sample project. Right-click in the Project

permissions and select All Read/Write.

Revision
Scheme

Save the new settings.

Click Apply.

The companys revision scheme is normally determined prior to

PDMWorks implementation and, if properly thought out, rarely
changed after implementation.
Revision schemes can have up to three levels plus an additional
working level.
The revision sequence can be specified as a range of values, such as A
to Z or 1 to 9, or they may be specified as discreet values when they are
non-consecutive.

When entering a range, the From and To values must have the same
number of digits. To enter a range of 1 through 999, you must enter 001
through 999.
Revision schemes are displayed as follows:
Primary
separator

Secondary
separator

Dev.01.A+

Working
copy

Primary Secondary Tertiary

level
level
level

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Working copies differ from standard revisions in that working copies

continue to overwrite the previous working copy in the vault while
standard revision levels store additional copies of the document file.

Working Copy

If the working copy field is blank, users will not be allowed to create
working copies.
Sequential revisioning causes the revision numbers to cycle through
each level in turn, rather than combine levels. If sequential revisioning
is used, PDMWorks will automatically eliminate the separators.

Example

Sequential revsioning is easier to see with an example.

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Sequential
Revisioning

Primary Level: A through C

Secondary Level: 1 through 3

Sequential Revisioning
Selected

Sequential Revisioning
Cleared

A1

A2

A3

B1

B2

B3

C1
C2

C3

Revision Scheme

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Set Revision Scheme.

The revision scheme used in this course consisted of a single letter at

the primary level to specify the released revision of the file. Before the
first release of a file, the primary level is specified with a dash. The
secondary level is a two digit number to specify changes to the primary
revision. The secondary increment is from 01 to 99.
Select the Revision Scheme tab.

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We cannot specify a range because we are using the dash. We will have
to enter the specific revisions we wish to use.

For the Primary revision, select Listing, then type the values: -, A,
B, C, D, E.

Set the secondary revision.

Use the existing secondary revision scheme. Range is selected for the
secondary revision level, and 01 and 99 are listed as the From and To
values.
Type a period . for the primary separator. The secondary separator,
tertiary range and listing boxes should all be empty.
For Working Copy type working.

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Set remaining options.

In our revision scheme, the primary value only is used for files that are
released. To allow revisions with only a primary level, the secondary
level must be optional.

Lifecycles

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Select Last revision type optional. Click Apply.

Lifecycles are used to indicate the status of the document (i.e., In

Design, Review, Released, or ECO). PDMWorks supports a lifecycle
system where the properties of ownership and revision control can be
set.
The use of lifecycles is not mandatory as they may be turned off. If
used, they must be set up by the administrator and enabled before users
are able to use this function.
There may be any number of revisions per lifecycle phase. For
example, while in the In Design lifecycle, one part may have revisions
from -.01 to -.54 while another part may only have -.01 to -.06.
Permissions to change lifecycle status can be granted to the owner,
administrator or a group.

Lifecycles

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Controlling User
Access

User access to documents can be controlled in three ways, by:

Q
Q
Q

Project
Lifecycle status
Custom property

The access control scheme must be careful thought out to avoid

conflicts between the methods.

Case Study:
Create
Lifecycles

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Careful thought should go into the setup of lifecycles. The first step is
to write out what you expect to happen in each lifecycle and how that
relates to the revision scheme. The lifecycle scheme used in this course
consisted of five lifecycles.

In Design

All files are in the In Design lifecycle from the first time they are
checked into the vault, until they are being reviewed for release. Any
engineer, designer, manager or the administrator may own files in this
lifecycle. The primary level will be a dash (-) and only the secondary
revision number will be used (i.e. -.01, -.02, etc.) to indicate different
revisions.

Pending

This lifecycle is for files that are being reviewed for release. While
Pending, they will be owned by Jim Jones who is the reviewer. When
ready for release, the revision will be incremented to a primary letter.

Released

When released, no one will own the document. Engineers and members
of the Document Control group will be allowed to take ownership.
When the document is next checked in, it will change status to ECO.

ECO

When an Engineering Change Order is issued, the responsible engineer

will take ownership and make the changes. Only the secondary revision
level will be changed (i.e. A, A.01, A.02, etc.). When complete, the file
will go to the Pending lifecycle for review.

224

Obsolete

When a released document is replaced by a newer revision, the old

version is moved to the Obsolete status and removed from view or
access. The revision does not increment.

Case Study: Create Lifecycles

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Lesson 5
PDMWorks Setup

Another way to set up the lifecycle structure is to create a flowchart.

Using the above descriptions, the flowchart might look like the
following:

In Design
Work in development until
submitted for review
Engineer, Designer,
Engineering Manager,
Administrator
Write Access:
Engineers, Engineering
Managers, Administrator
Read Access:
Document Control
No Access:
Shop Floor, Vendors
Revisions:
Dash plus secondary,
working
Lifecycle Rules: Once released, cannot
return to In Design

Sample Lifecycle Document Flow

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Ownership:

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Function:

Pending

Function:

Work being reviewed for

release
Jim Jones
Jim Jones
Engineers, Engineering
Managers, Document
Control, Administrator
No Access:
Shop Floor
Revisions:
Secondary only
Lifecycle Rules: Move to released or
previous lifecycle for
changes
Ownership:
Write Access:
Read Access:

Released

Function:

Revisions to released
documents
Person developing the
document
Write Access:
Engineers Engineering
Managers,
Administrator
Read Access:
Document Control
No Access:
Shop Floor
Revisions:
Secondary only
Lifecycle Rules: Cannot return to
Released without
review
Ownership:

Function:
Ownership:
Write Access:

Released for manufactureing

None
Engineers, Designers,
Engineering Managers,
Administrators
Read Access:
Everyone
No Access:
No One
Revisions:
Primary only
Lifecycle Rules: Goes to ECO on next
checkin

ECO

Note

Obsolete

Function:

Documents replaced by
newer revisions
None
None
Document Control
Everyone except
Document Control
Revisions:
No change
Lifecycle Rules: Once Obsolete, cannot
return to any other
lifecyle
Ownership:
Write Access:
Read Access:
No Access:

Rules set on the Lifecycle tab take precedence over client check in
settings.

Case Study: Create Lifecycles

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Create new lifecycles.

Select the Lifecycle tab.

Select Enable lifecycle. Until selected, nothing is available on the

Lifecycle tab.
Control document assess.
Select Control document access using status. This adds another

level of control over which files users can access.

Lifecycle change on check in.

Select Allow status changes on check in and allow revision levels
based on the status. Then select Selected in the check-in dialog
box. This will allow documents to be placed in any lifecycle when

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checked in.

We are selecting this option because we have legacy data that is already
released. When these files are first checked into the vault, they can be
check in directly to the correct lifecycle.

Define the lifecycles.

Click New Status and type In
Design. Click OK.

Add four other status definitions

named ECO, Pending, Obsolete and
Released.

Reorder the status.

The order of the lifecycles is important as

they define the progression of a project from
inception to release. Lifecycles progress
down the list, so we want Pending before
ECO.

Select Pending in the list and click

Move Up.

Select ECO and click Move Down twice.

Move Obsolete to the last position in the list.
6

Set Lifecycle status change

permissions.

Some of the lifecycle options are specific to

each lifecycle while others are global and
apply to all lifecycles. The left side of the
dialog controls global options and the right
side controls options specific to the
individual lifecycles.

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The Users, groups that can change status control which users may
change a files lifecycle status.
In our company, we want the user to be able to change lifecycle status.
Select Document owner.
We also want the administrator to be able to change a lifecycle status to
help troubleshoot problems. Select Administrators.

Previous revisions.

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Jim Jones is the group supervisor, to allow him to also change a files
status, select his name from the list.
The change status options that were just set apply to all revisions. To
limit these permissions to only the current revision, select Allow only
administrators to change the status of previous revisions.

Taking Ownership

Lifecycle permissions allow an exception to the rule that only the

person with ownership of a file can make changes.

By selecting Administrators, the administrator can, without

ownership, cause files to change lifecycle status. The new status can
mean that the files have a different owner. This effectively means that
ownership can be taken from the original owner.
Allowing an individual or group to change status has the same effect,
so permission settings should be carefully thought out.

Change owner on change in

status.

The person who owns a file can be

changed when the lifecycle status of
a file changes.

Select the lifecycle In Design. From

the list select <do not change>.

Select the lifecycle Pending. From

the list select jim_jones. Jim is
responsible for reviewing all files
before they are released. When a file
is changed to the Pending lifecycle,
Jim Jones will automatically become
the owner.
Select the lifecycle Released. From the list select <none>. When a file
moves into the Released lifecycle the file becomes disowned.
Select the lifecycle ECO. From the list select <do not change>.
During the ECO process, the rules will be essentially the same as for
the lifecycle In Design.

Case Study: Create Lifecycles

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Select the lifecycle Obsolete. From the list select <none>. Once in the
Obsolete status no one should own the file.
Ownership By
Status

The rules for file access can change with status. Unlike the permissions
set on the Projects tab which applied to the project, these permissions
will apply to the individual files.

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Establishing these rules must be carefully thought out to prevent

situation where a user may have write access to a file that is in a project
where he has no access.
9

Changing ownership rules by

status.
I a previous step we enabled Control
document access using status. This

enables the list of users.

Select the lifecycle In Design. In the

RW column select Engineers,
Engineers-Ink Jet Printer, Managers and <document owner>. In the RO
column, select Betty Black. While in this lifecycle, everyone except
Betty Black has write access.
Select the lifecycle Pending. In this lifecycle, Jim
Jones automatically becomes the owner and is the
only user who needs write access. Because there is
only one user who needs access other than read-only,
we can apply read-only access to everyone then just
change the access for Jim Jones.

Right-click in the permissions area and select All Read Only. Click in
the RW column for Jim Jones.
Select the lifecycle Released. When a file moves into this lifecycle it
becomes disowned. In order to modify a released document, all the
engineers need access as well as the Document Control group (Betty
Black). Everyone else will get read-only permission. When an ECO is
required, engineers can take ownership and change the document. Once
changed, we dont want them to check the document back in as
Released so we will force the status to move automatically to ECO.
Select the RW column for both groups of engineers, document owner,
pdmwadmin and Betty Black. Click in the RO column for everyone
else.
Select the lifecycle ECO. File access for this lifecycle will be the same
as In Design.

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Select the lifecycle Obsolete. Betty Black, as a member of the

Document Control group, will have Write access, everyone else will
have no access. Right-click in the permissions area and select All No
Access Specified, then click in the RW column for Betty Black.

Lifecycle rules can force documents to flow through the system in a set
direction and can prevent files from returning to a certain status. In this
system, once a file leaves the In Design status, it is controlled and not
allowed to return to In Design. It is expected to move through Pending
to Released. Once released, any changes are handled by ECOs so the
file must go to ECO, then Pending for review, then back to Released.

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Document Flow

10 Do not allow status return.

Select the In Design status. Select Do not allow status to return to

this level or a prior level. This is the only status we do not want a file
to return to.
In turn, select Pending, Released, ECO and Obsolete and clear Do
not allow status to return to this level or a prior level.

Revision Rules

At each lifecycle, only certain revision increments my be allowed.

Lifecycle rules can establish which levels of revisions my change at
each status.

In our system, letters indicate released documents. We do not want a

document to get a letter revision while still in the lifecycle In
Design. While in the Status of In Design and ECO we want the
secondary revision to change. While in Pending, we need to change
either primary or secondary levels depending on whether or not the file
gets released.

Case Study: Create Lifecycles

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11 Set allowed revision levels.

Select the In Design lifecycle. Select
Secondary and Working copy; clear
Primary and Tertiary.

Select the Pending lifecycle. Select Primary and Secondary; clear

Tertiary and Working copy.

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Select the Released lifecycle. Select Primary; clear Secondary,

Tertiary, and Working copy.

Select the ECO lifecycle. Select Secondary and Working copy; clear
Primary and Tertiary.

Select the Obsolete lifecycle. Clear Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and

Working copy. When documents move to Obsolete, their revision
does not change, only their status.

Automatic Change
In Status

When a file is checked in, there may be a need to force a change to a

certain lifecycle status. Lifecycle rules can be established to force the
document to move forward to the next status, backward to the previous
status, to the last or first lifecycle status or not to change.
In our system, we will only force one lifecycle change, when a
Released document is again checked in, it must move to ECO.

12 Set next check in rules.

Select the Released lifecycle.
For When a document at the
selected status before check in is next checked in, change the
document status to, select ECO from the list.

Select each of the four other lifecycles in turn and from the list select
<no change>.

Click Apply.

Vault Settings

The Vault Settings tab provides the general control over vault
activities.

Admin Privileges

PDMWorks allows more than one administrator. There are a few

simple rules for assigning Administrator Privileges:
Q

You need at least one person assigned Administrator Privileges.

You will never be allowed to remove all administrators.

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There should be a backup administrator.

There should always be a person ready to take over the administrator

duties if the primary administrator is not available.
Q

All users with Administrator Privileges are equal.

This is significant in that any administrator can remove all the others!
Q

You cannot remove yourself as an administrator.

One administrator needs access to the vault through Windows

Explorer.

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To remove your account from the Admin Privileges list, another

administrator must remove it.

There are several tasks the administrator must accomplish directly

through Windows. At least one administrator will need both read and
write access to the vault through Windows Explorer.

The administrator should be a PDMWorks user rather than an IT

person.

Most of the actions taken by the administrator deal with how the users
interact with SolidWorks and the vault, not computer or network issues.
While it may be beneficial in large organizations to have a member of
the IT team trained as a Vault Administrator, it is generally not
necessary.

Important!

No one, other than the administrator, should have read or write access
to the vault through Windows.

Global Settings

These settings are normally determined at installation, then left

untouched. Many of these functions were discussed during the previous
lessons.

Keep extra copy of latest files.

Whatever version of the document that was checked in last will be

stored in an additional folder in the vault call Latest. This provides a
redundant copy of the file in the vault in the event the primary copy is
corrupted.

Hide projects with no access.

Projects that a user has neither read nor write access will not be visible
in the Vault View. Selecting this option can speed access to the vault by
reducing the amount of information that must be transmitted across the
network.
Q

Force user login.

This prevents users from storing their passwords. Users must type their
passwords at log in because Save password is disabled.
Q

Allow revision bumping.

Users can bump a revision without opening the document.

Vault Settings

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Allow latest revision overwrite.

When checked, users can check in a document at the same revision

level which overwrites the previous copy. This is similar to working
copy, but no suffix is added to the revision number.
Q

Allow change document properties.

Allow users to create subprojects.

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This allows users to change custom properties within PDMWorks, such

as in list boxes. With this option cleared, users can still change
document properties through SolidWorks or Windows.

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When selected, users can create sub-projects under projects which they
have write access. If cleared, only the vault administrator can create
projects.

Do not allow read-only users to open documents in Web Portal.

If selected, users that access the vault through the Web Portal, will not
be allowed to open any document from a project where they have readonly access.

.prt/.asm/.drw extension not associated with SolidWorks.

If cleared, files with these extensions are considered to be SolidWorks

documents. If checked, they will not be considered SolidWorks
documents and will not form automatic associations. If you check in
documents from other CAD systems that use these file extension, this
option would normally be selected.

Allow attachments to documents owned by other users.

If this option is cleared, users cannot create a reference to a document

owned by another user when they are checking in a document type
other than SolidWorks.

Set file system read-only attribute if not owner.

If selected, users who open files from the vault that are owned by
someone else, will have them open with read-only access in Windows.

Allow users to rename documents in the Vault.

The Rename function can be turned off. If there are problems with

users renaming files, the administrator can turn the function off. If the
administrator needs to rename files, it can be turned on to make
changes then turn it back off.
Q

Enable performance email.

Allows the performance log to be automatically emailed to SolidWorks

Corporation.

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Bind ownership to SolidWorks read-write/read-only access.

When this option is selected, making a change to the read/write status

of a file in SolidWorks affects the ownership of the file in PDMWorks.
Conversely, changing ownership in PDMWorks affects the read/write
status of the file in SolidWorks.
When making a copy of the vault, it is important to make sure that no
transactions take place during the copy operation. When the vault is locked,
the service will continue to run but the vault will stop all transactions.

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Locking The Vault

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The vault can be locked for everyone except a single user to aid in
troubleshooting a problem.

If the administrator closes the VaultAdmin tool without unlocking the

vault, PDMWorks will provide a warning to insure that the vault is not
left locked inadvertently.

Note

Viewing with
eDrawing

eDrawings are used to view documents in all three PDMWorks

interfaces. Administrators can allow clients to use the Measure,
Markup and Save tools in eDrawings even if they do not have an
eDrawings Professional license.

Delete, Rollback,
Archive
Documents

Permission to perform these functions can be limited. Setting

permissions to No one, can prevent an unintended deletion from the
vault. If an administrator needs to perform one of these functions,
permission can be can easily be changed in the VaultAdmin tool to
Administrators only for the time needed to complete the task, then
returned to No one.

Vault Log File

PDMWorks maintains a log file, to record interaction with the vault and
errors that occur. The log file is a text file that is kept in the root directory
of the vault. As a text file, it can be read in any standard text editing
software, such as Notepad. Periodically, this file should be archived and
deleted.

These vault log file is a resource to help the vault administrator to

troubleshoot problems.

Case Study:
Global Settings

Setting the options on the Vault Settings tab is straight forward.

13 Administrative privileges.
Select the Vault Settings tab.

Assign Vault Administrator privileges to

Sally Brown and pdmwadmin.

Case Study: Global Settings

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14 Global Settings.

Establish the global settings

shown in the graphic.
Click Apply.

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we are having a problem, or

a time change, we can let the
vault start up without
validation.

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15 Vault Validation.
Clear Validate vault. Unless

16 Viewing with eDrawings.

Select all three options to allow Measure, Markup and Save.

Click Apply.

Custom
Properties

Within PDMWorks, custom properties can be controlled and shown in

reports and document information. The Properties tab provides two
functions, specifying which custom properties will be shown in
PDMWorks and mapping existing properties to those used by
PDMWorks.
Properties added in the VaultAdmin tool only affect the capabilities to
display and add custom properties within the PDMWorks functions.
Additional custom properties can always be added through SolidWorks
or Windows Explorer.
Custom properties can also be used to control vault access through
individual user permissions.

We will add several custom properties to show in our reports, then map
existing file properties to those used in PDMWorks.

Case Study:
Adding Custom
Properties

Open the cylinder.

In SolidWorks, open the part Cylinder.sldprt from the

\Lesson05\Case Study folder.
2

Log in.

Log in to PDMWorks as the administrator (password: crow).

3

File properties.
Click Properties on the File menu.

There are no custom properties assigned in this file.

Click OK.

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PDMWorks Setup

Check in the part.

Check in the cylinder to the sample project. Do not add a Number

or Description. Use the default revision number.

Case Study: Adding Custom Properties

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File properties.
Click Properties on the File menu.

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Six file properties were added, even though several of them have values
that are blank.

Click OK.

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Lesson 5
PDMWorks Setup

The report.

In the Vault View, right-click the cylinder part and select Reporting.
Right-click anywhere in the header row and select Restore default
state.
The only columns in the report are default file properties added by
PDMWorks.

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Click Close.

Add additional properties.

In the VaultAdmin tool, select the

Properties tab.
Click New Property. Type
Material and click OK.
Repeat the process and add the
properties ApprovedBy and
DrawnBy.

The three new properties are now listed

in the left pane.
Click Apply.

Case Study: Adding Custom Properties

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Refresh the Vault View.

Whenever a change is made in the VaultAdmin tool, the Vault View

must be refreshed before the new changes take effect.
Right-click in the Vault View and select Refresh Vault View or click
Refresh
in the Vault View toolbar.
9

Check in the part.

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Check in the Cylinder to the sample project.

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The additional properties are now listed, even though their values are
blank.

Click Check In.

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PDMWorks Setup

10 File properties.
Click Properties on the File menu.

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The three new properties were added.

11 Add a property value to the file.

Select the Value/Text Expression cell in the row for the Material

property.

Type Steel.

Case Study: Adding Custom Properties

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12 Add a property to the file.

Add a custom property for Vendor directly to the file.

Select the blank Property Name cell in row ten, then select Vendor
from the pull-down list and type SolidWorks for the value.

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Click OK.

13 Missing entries.

SolidWorks issues the message:

There are rows with missing entries in the custom

properties grid. These rows will not be updated. If
you want to complete these rows, click Yes now.
This indicates that there are properties with no values. We will leave
them blank for now.

14 Save the part.

Click No.

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PDMWorks Setup

15 Check in the part.

Check in the Cylinder to the sample project.

The value of Steel has been added to the Material cell.

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Because Vendor is not one of the properties recorded by PDMWorks,

it is not listed in the Check In dialog.

16 The report.

In the Vault View, right-click the cylinder part and select Reporting.
The columns in the report now include the three new properties added
through the VaultAdmin tool but not the property that we added
directly into the Solidworks file.

Click Close. Close the Cylinder.

Case Study: Adding Custom Properties

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17 Document Information.

In the Vault View, right-click the Cylinder and select Document

Information.

The Properties tab in the Document Information window shows all the
properties listed in PDMWorks as well as the properties entered
directly into the file in SolidWorks.

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Click Close.

Revision Table

The revision scheme in PDMWorks is integrated with the SolidWorks

revision table. Changes in the PDMWorks revision can be set to add
additional rows to the revision table.

The administrator controls which level of revision changes cause

updates to the revision table in the drawing.

Revision Table
Properties

Set PDMWorks to add revision table rows for primary and secondary
revision number updates. In order for PDMWorks to add the revision
numbers to the revision table, a revision table must already be inserted
into the drawing.
1

Revision Table tab.

Select the Revision Table tab in the VaultAdmin tool.

Enable.
Select Enable Revision Table. Until selected, all functions are grayed

out.

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Lesson 5
PDMWorks Setup

Rules for revisions.

Select Primary and Secondary. Clear Tertiary and Working copy.

This will cause a new row to be added to the revision table in the
drawing to be added whenever the drawing is checked in with a new
revision number that increments either the Primary or Secondary
revision number.
4

Number of rows.

Revision order.
Select Ascending. This will set the revision sequence in the table so

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Use the spin box to set the number of visible rows in the revision table
to 4.

that the newest revision is on the bottom.

Ascending

Descending

Click Apply.

Revision Table Properties

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PDMWorks Setup

Like the revision and lifecycle schemes, the method used to handle
Toolbox and other standard parts should be determined prior to
PDMWorks implementation.

Toolbox parts

Toolbox parts are, in effect, just SolidWorks parts. From the user
perspective they are indistinguishable from other SolidWorks parts. To
help manage Toolbox parts in PDMWorks, they have in internal flag
that designates them as a Toolbox parts.

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Standard
Libraries

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When setting up PDMWorks, the key question in determining how to

handle Toolbox parts is whether or not the parts need revision control.
There are three ways that PDMWorks knows that a file is a Toolbox
file:
Q

Internal flag.

Toolbox inserts an internal flag into the part files.

Toolbox directories.

Any file in a directory that has \Toolbox\, \Toolbox

Parts\, or \SolidWorks Data\ in its path.

Specified directories.

Any file in a directory listed on the Standard Libraries tab.

In addition to Toolbox parts, other documents such as library parts or

vendor supplied parts may be managed through PDMWorks. These
files do not have to be checked into the vault but can be shown in the
vault under a separate project.

Revision Options

The checkin of Standard Library files can be disabled. If Standard

Library files are not checked into the vault, they may still be shown in
the vault under a separate project. By showing these parts in their own
project, even though they are not physically in the vault, many of the
data functions, such as Document Information, are available.

Not Revision
Managed Files

Common Parts
Library

When copies are created of Toolbox or standard parts, policy may

dictate that they be checked into the vault. If this is done, the local copy
can be deleted to avoid confusion.

Common parts and features can be handled through the Toolbox tab by
creating a separate project for them. Like Toolbox parts, the issue is
whether or not you need revision control over these parts.
To prevent common parts from being checked into the vault, include
their folder in the list on the Toolbox tab.

Common Part
Shared Folder

244

This approach is essentially the same as using Toolbox master parts.

Because these parts are not checked into the vault, they can be edited
by anyone and will not be subject to revision control.

Standard Libraries

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 5
PDMWorks Setup

This procedure uses the Toolbox function in the VaultAdmin tool to

exempt these common parts from check in.

Procedure

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1. Create a folder on a shared drive.

2. Place all the common parts in this folder and its sub directories.
3. In the VaultAdmin tool, add the directory path to the Shared
Libraries tab.
4. In SolidWorks Options, set the path for the palette parts or Design
Library to the shared directory.
The common parts project is essentially the same as the project we set
up for templates. Because these parts are checked into the vault, they
are subject to ownership and revision control.

Procedure

These are the basic steps to set up the vault for Common Parts.

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Common Parts
Project

1. Create company approved parts, fasteners and features.

2. Create a Common Parts project, and subprojects as desired, to hold
all the parts and features.
3. Assign write access to the project to the person responsible for
maintaining the files.
4. Assign read access to everyone who will use theses parts and
features.
5. Check in the common parts to the Common Parts project.
6. Users drag and drop the parts and features from the vault directly
into their assemblies as needed.

Case Study:
Toolbox Parts

Add a common parts directory to the Toolbox tab to prevent them from
being checked into the vault with the parent documents.

Create a common directory.

Common and library parts are stored in a central location.

Using Windows Explorer, create the directory

C:\SolidWorks Common.

Add a directory.

In the VaultAdmin tool, select the Standard Libraries tab.

Click Add.
Browse to the C:\SolidWorks Common directory.
Click OK.

Case Study: Toolbox Parts

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Apply the change.

All changes to the VaultAdmin tool settings must be applied.

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Click Apply.

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Lesson 5
PDMWorks Setup

Triggers

Triggers are only available with the PDMWorks Advanced Server. The
Triggers tab implements a message queuing architecture that provides
a framework for triggering custom applications.

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The use of triggers is beyond the scope of this course.

Triggers

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PDMWorks Setup

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Exercise 11:
User Accounts

In this exercise, we will replace the PDMWorks vault used in the

previous exercises with a new vault. Then, we will add user accounts,
passwords and user groups.
1

Stop PDMWorks service.

Vaults can only be copied and replaced when the PDMWorks service is
stopped.

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Double-click Services.

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Click Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance,

Administrative Tools.
Right-click PDMWorks Server in the list and select Stop.

Leave the window open as we will need to restart the service once the
vaults have been switched.

Rename the old vault.

Start Windows Explorer and navigate to the directory

C:\VaultData.
Rename this directory VaultData_old.

Copy the directory VaultData_New from the SolidWorks 2006

Training Files\PDMWorks\Vaults directory to the root
directory and rename it VautltData.

Restart the PDMWorks service.

Press Alt+Tab to make the Services window active.

Right-click PDMWorks Server in the list and select Start.

Close the Services window and Control Panel.

Start the VaultAdmin tool.

Click Start, All Programs, PDMWorks 2006, PDMWorks 2006
VaultAdmin.

Log in as the default administrator.

Use the following information to log in:

Q

Q
Q

Name: pdmwadmin
Password: pdmwadmin
Project vault: localhost

Delete Users.

Delete the default user user_r.

7

Modify User.

Modify the user user_w to become Sam Black.

Exercise 11

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Add new users and groups.

Create users and groups based on the table.

User names will be the first letter of the first name plus the last name.
Example: the user name for Joe Smith is jsmith.
Display name will be their full name. Example: Joe Smith.

Joe Smith

Sam Black

Brian Hursch

Bill Mack

John Leon

250

Sally Smyth

Jack Montgomery

Pam Stanford

Greg Johnson

Jon Brown
Kari White

Drafting
X

Barbara Jones
Bob Brown

Document Control

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Engineers Project B

Managers

Users

Administrator

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Engineers Project A

Give everyone a default password that is the first three letters of their
first name in lowercase. Example: password for jsmith is joe.

X
X

Mike Knight

Phil Baxter

Exercise 11

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Exercise 12:
Projects

In this exercise, you will create the project structure and permissions.
With small companies, projects and permissions can be managed on the
fly. For larger companies, it is easier to make a spreadsheet like the
following table to determine permissions for each user. Once the
spreadsheet is created, it is easier to input the settings into PDMWorks.
1

Create projects and assign access.

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Use the table to create project and assign user access. Indented projects
are sub-projects of the project above. Example: Locking Mechanism
and Structure are both subprojects of Tool Vise.
Use groups and Select All to speed the process. Permissions may be
copied from one project to another.

Tip

Projects

Tool Vise

Users

Administrators
Managers
Eng Project A
Eng Project B
Drafting
Document Control
Joe Smith
Barbara Jones
Bob Brown
Sam Black
Brian Hursch
Bill Mack
Sally Smith
John Leon
Jack Montgomery
Pam Stanford
Greg Johnson
Jon Brown
Kari White
Mike Knight
Phil Baxter

Groups

W W W R

W W W W W W W W R

W R

W W W W

Locking
Mechanism

W W W R

W W W W W W W W R

W R

W W W W

Structure

W W W R

W W W W W W W W R

W R

W W W W

W R

Fasteners
U-Joint
Handle

Rotating
Elements

W W R

W W W W W W R

W W W W W W W W R

W W R

W W W W W W R

W W W W W W W W R

W W R

W W W W W W R

W W W W W W W W R

Trash

W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W

Training

W W R

Sample

W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W

Exercise 12

W R

W W R

W R

W R

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Exercise 13:
Revision Scheme
& Lifecycle

When establishing the companys Lifecycle and Revision scheme, it

may be easier to write out the rules in words, then translated them into
the PDMWorks settings.
Establish a Lifecycle and Revisioning scheme that does the following:

Lifecycles

Q
Q
Q

Lifecycle
Permissions

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Development
Review
Release
Obsolete

Lifecycles will not be used to control document access.

Lifecycle status may be changed by the document owner,

administrators and managers.

Lifecycle Rules:

Set the lifecycle rules as follows:

In Development:

Q
Q
Q

In Review:

Q
Q

In Release:

Q
Q

Obsolete:

Working Copies

252

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Lifecycle status can be one of the following:

The revisions will run from X1 to X10.

Documents do not change status on check in.
Once documents move out of this status, they cannot return.
The revisions run from X1.1 to X10.9.
Documents do not change status on check in.

The revisions run from A to G. with .1 thru .9 added to note minor

changes.
Documents do not change status on check in.
Only one released version of a document is permitted. Old released
documents move to Obsolete.
When released, the owner will change to Bob Brown (document
control manager).
Document revision will not change when a document moves into
Obsolete.
No one will own documents in this lifecycles.

Working copies will be designated by the suffix WORKING.

Working copies are only permitted during Development and Review.

Exercise 13

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Solution

The following screen shots show one possible solution.

Development
Lifecycle

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Revision Scheme

Exercise 13

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Review Lifecycle

Release Lifecycle

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Exercise 13

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Obsolete Lifecycle

Exercise 13

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Exercise 13

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 6
PDMWorks Administration

Upon successful completion of this lesson, you will be able to:

Q

Lock the vault and stop the PDMWorks service.

Replace the vault with a copy.

Maintain user accounts.

Change user passwords.

Clear Obsolete folders.

Archive projects.

Use custom property mapping.

Checkin documents in bulk

Update the VaultAdmin software.

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PDMWorks Administration

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Lesson 6
PDMWorks Administration

Maintaining The
Vault

Maintaining the vault generally does not require much time on the part
of the administrator as there are only a few things that need to be done.
The general actions taken by the administrator to maintain the vault
include:
Q

Backup the vault.

Archive log file.

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Backup copies of the vault should be made periodically. In the

event of system failures, the most recent backup copy can be used
to minimize loss of data.
The log file will become very large with time. Archiving the log file
allows the vault to limit the log information to current events.

Maintain user accounts.

As the workforce changes, user accounts must be added, deleted or

modified.

Remove unused files from the vault.

There are several actions required to keep the vault from getting too
large. Deleted files need to be completely removed and old revision
may need to be archived.

Map custom properties.

Custom properties in existing files may be named differently from

those used in PDMWorks. These properties can be mapped to
resolve differences.

Bulk load files.

When a large number of files need to be check into the vault, the
administrator can use the bulk check in function to speed the
process.

Update PDMWorks.

As newer versions of PDMWorks are released, the administrator

updates the vault software.

Locking The Vault

Where to Find It

Maintaining The Vault

When making a copy of the vault, it is important to make sure that no

transactions take place during the copy operation. Either stop the
service or lock the vault.
The vault can be locked for all users except a specific user such as the
vault administrator. This can be useful when troubleshooting the vault.
Q

Select Locked on the Vault Settings tab of the VaultAdmin tool.

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PDMWorks Administration

Vault Backup

The vault can be backed up by saving a copy of the VaultData

directory to a new name such as VaultData_dd_mm_yy, where
dd_mm_yy is the backup date. Before making a copy of the vault, the
vault must be locked or the service stopped.
Start the VaultAdmin tool.
Select the Vault Settings tab and Lock the vault.
Copy the vault to a drive location for storage.
Rename the backup to VaultData_dd_mm_yy.
Unlock the vault.

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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

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To create a backup copy of the vault:

Case Study:
Vault Backup

In this case study, a backup copy of the vault will be created, then the
existing copy of the vault will be replaced.

Stop SolidWorks.

Exit SolidWorks.

Start the VaultAdmin tool.

Click Start, All Programs, PDMWorks 2006, PDMWorks 2006
VaultAdmin.

Log in as the administrator.

Lock the vault.

Select the Vault Settings tab.

Select Locked.

Click Apply.

If you click OK to close the VaultAdmin tool, PDMWorks will warn

you that the vault is locked.

Note

WARNING: You have left the vault locked. You must

unlock the vault before users will be able to use it.

Create a backup directory.

Use Windows Explorer to create a directory called Vault Backup.

5

Copy the vault.

Copy the vault to the Vault Backup directory.

6

Rename the backup copy.

Right-click the copy of the vault and select Rename.

Rename the copy VaultData_dd_mm_yy where dd_mm_yy is
todays date.

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Lesson 6
PDMWorks Administration

Unlock the vault.

In the VaultAdmin tool, click Unlocked on the

Vault Settings tab.
Click OK to close the VaultAdmin tool.
8

Restore a backup vault.

Stop the PDMWorks Service.

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For the remainder of this lesson we will use the vault from the first four
lessons. The first step is to replace the existing vault with that vault.

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The PDMWorks service must be stopped to change a vault. Just locking

the vault is not enough.

Click Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance,

Administrative Tools, then double-click Services.
Right-click PDMWorks Server and select Stop.

10 Rename the vault.

In Windows Explorer, right-click the vault (VaultData) and select

Rename.
Rename the vault to VaultData_setup.

11 Rename the replacement vault.

Important!

Case Study: Vault Backup

Locate the vault we renamed to VaultData_used at the beginning

of Lesson 5. Rename this vault to VaultData.
This vault must be in the same location as the old vault as the path to
the vault is stored in the Windows registry.

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12 Restart the PDMWorks service.

Make the Services window active. Right-click PDMWorks Server
and select Start.

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PDMWorks is now using the new vault and all its settings and
passwords.

13 Close.

Close the Services window and the Control Panel.

Log File

PDMWorks maintains a log file to record both application related

events and errors. The log file is kept in the root directory of the vault.
The log file is a text file and can be read in any standard text editing
software, such as Notepad. Periodically, this file should be archived
and deleted.
The log file is a resource to help the vault administrator troubleshoot
problems.

The server log keeps track of all events and errors within the vault.

Server Log

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Lesson 6
PDMWorks Administration

Case Study:
Log Files

PDMWorks has been installed for some time and we want to clean out
the log files.
This case study will examine and archive the PDMWorks log files.
1

Locate the log files.

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Use Windows Explore to locate the

file server.log in the vault
directory.

In the next two steps, the content of the files will be different from the
images shown as they will reflect the activities on your computer.

Note

Open the application log.

Use Notepad to open the file server.log.

Examine the contents of the file. The server log can be useful when
tracking down problems with files being checked in or out.

Replace Graphic

Close the log file.

Start the VaultAdmin tool.

Log in as the administrator. Remember, on this vault the

administrators password is still pdmwadmin.
5

Lock the vault.

Before making an archived copy of these logs, we want to insure there

are no transactions taking place.
In the Vault Settings tab, select Locked.

Case Study: Log Files

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Save the vault log.

Click Save for the Vault log.

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Save the file as vault log to the Vault

Archive folder found in the \SolidWorks 2006 Training
Files\PDMWorks\Vault Archive directory. The file will have a
default name of
PDMWorksServer.yyyy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss.log where
yyyy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss will be the current year, month, day, hour,
minute and second when the file is saved.

Clear the vault log.

Click Clear for the vault log. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Open the application log.

Use Notepad to open the file server.log.

The application log file is now empty.

Close Notepad.

10 Unlock the vault.

Tree Options

Every time files are added to the vault, the tree structure is updated.
With a lot of vault activity, the Vault View may not accurately represent
the contents of the vault. To correct this problem, the vault needs to be
rebuilt.

This process is similar to the Rebuild function in SolidWorks. When

we add features or rebuild the model (Ctrl+B), SolidWorks only
rebuilds from the last change. If we want the model to rebuild all
features, we do a forced rebuild (Ctrl+Q).
PDMWorks can rebuild and validate the vault tree structure when the
vault service is started (like Ctrl+Q in SolidWorks). This process could
take from a few seconds to a half hour depending on the size of the
vault and the processing power of the server. This validation and
rebuild are off by default but may be enabled through the VaultAdmin
tool.

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Lesson 6
PDMWorks Administration

Validate Vault

PDMWorks goes through each project in the vault to make sure that
every document is valid. PDMWorks then rebuilds the vault tree from
the beginning.

Where to Find It

11 Set tree rebuild options.

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In the VaultAdmin tool, select the Vault

Settings tab, then Validate Vault.

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Select Validate Vault on the Vault Settings tab of the VaultAdmin

tool.

Select Next startup. This will cause the vault to rebuild on the next
startup and then Validate vault will turn itself off.
Click Apply.

There are only a few actions required for user accounts once
PDMWorks is installed and operating. As users leave the company,
their accounts must be removed from the system, and as new users
arrive they must be added.

File Owner Leaves

The Company

One concern when users leave, is whether they still own files in the
vault. There are two approaches depending on the ownership
requirements of the files.

Maintaining
User Accounts

File Owner on
Temporary Leave

Disown the files.

The administrator can delete the departed user. Any file that the
user owned will become disowned (no owner).

Modify the old user to become the new user.

When the departed user is being replaced by a new user, the old
users account can be modified to the replacements name. The
replacement will then own all the files of the departed user, and will
have all the same project and lifecycle access as the departed user.

When a file owner is away and other users need access to his files, the
vault administrator can release ownership. To do this, the administrator
uses the VaultAdmin tool to assign a new password to the user. The
administrator can then log in as the user and release ownership of the
documents.
The administrator then notifies the user that his password has been
changed.

User Access by
Property

User access to files can be controlled by custom properties within the

files. This can be particularly useful when adding users who have
access to the vault through the Web Portal.

Maintaining User Accounts

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PDMWorks Administration

Case Study:
Modify Users

Bob White left the company and has been replaced by Sally Brown.
Bob left without releasing ownership of his project files.
Sally is to be responsible for all of Bobs files. Modify the user Bob
White to become Sally Brown.
1

Log in.

Label display.

in the Vault View to change the label display.

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Click

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Start SolidWorks and log in to PDMWorks as pdmwadmin.

Display labels with the Owner.

Locate the file MB10172001-A1. This is the motherboard.

Bob White owns the assembly and all the component parts.

Log in.

Log in to the VaultAdmin tool and select the tab Users & Groups.

Modify a user.

Select Bob White in the user list.

Click Modify.

Change users name.

For New name type Sally

Brown.

For Password type sal.

For Display name type Sally

Brown and for Email type
[email protected].

Click OK.

View the project.

Refresh the Vault View.

The Vault View shows that all of Bobs files now belong to Sally.

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After

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Before

Group permissions.

In the VaultAdmin tool, select the group

Electrical Design.

Because Bob White was a member of this

group, Sally Brown is now a member of this
group and Bob White is no longer listed.

Case Study:
Passwords

Brian Hursch is on vacation and cant be reached. His boss wants the
Carriage Lock revision changed to -.03. When Brain left on
vacation, he maintained ownership of the file.

Select the Users & Groups tab.

Select Brian Hursch in the list and click Modify.

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Create a new password.

Type Pass4bh as the new

password.
Click OK.
10 Log in.

11 Bump revision.

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Right-click the part L0107200102 (Carriage Lock) in the Vault

View and select Bump Revision.

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Log in to PDMWorks as Brian

Hursch using his new password.

Bump the revision to -.03.

12 Logout.

Logout as Brain Hursch.

When Brain gets back, he wont be able to log in because his old
password is not valid. He will have to contact the administrator and be
given a new password.

Regaining Disk
Space

Over time, the vault may become very large. There are several ways to
recover disk space in the vault.
Q

Delete files.

Files that are no longer needed may be permanently removed from

the vault.

Empty Obsolete folders.

Files and projects that are deleted stay in the Obsolete folders
until permanently deleted.

The vault maintains an extra copy of the latest version of each file
in a folder called Latest. This options can be disabled and these
folders removed.

o
D
Deleting Projects

Remove Latest folders.

Archive old revisions.

Entire projects or just selected revisions can be archived to another

folder or removable media.
Over time, project structures may become obsolete, or projects become
empty as the files are released for manufacturing and moved to
different projects.
Projects can be deleted by selecting the project on the Projects tab in
the VaultAdmin tool and clicking Delete Project.

Caution!

268

Projects can be deleted even if they are not empty. Any files in the
project will be deleted and links to them broken. While the files can be

Regaining Disk Space

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PDMWorks Administration

recovered from the Obsolete folders, reestablishing the links and

getting the files into the correct project can be tedious. Before deleting
a project, it is always a good idea to make sure the project is empty.
Deleting Files

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The administrator controls who my delete files. Either everyone, no

one or just the administrator may be given permission to delete files
from the vault. This option may be changed at any time.

Delete/Trash
Project

Delete Procedure

Regaining Disk Space

Care must be taken when deleting files to prevent files that are referenced
by other files from being deleted. The Where Used function should always
be checked before deleting files. Because the vault maintains copies of all
revisions to the files, a part may no longer be used in an assembly, but if an
earlier revision of the assembly used the part, the part should not be
removed from the vault.
When the companys decision is to limit permission to delete files to
administrators only, an easy way to allow users to remove files from
their projects is to create a new project called Delete or Trash.
Give all users write access to the Delete/Trash project. Instead of
deleting files, users just move the files they want deleted to the
Delete/Trash project using the Change Project function. The
administrator then goes through the project and deletes files that are no
longer referenced by other files.

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Deleting Obsolete
Folders

Keep Latest

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Files and projects that are deleted from the vault move to Obsolete
folders. These Obsolete folders are essentially the vaults recycle
bin. To regain disk space, the Obsolete folders need to be
periodically removed from the vault.
To remove files from the Obsolete folders, the Obsolete folders
themselves may just be deleted rather than deleting each individual file
in the folder. PDMWorks will create new copies of the Obsolete
folders as necessary when additional files are deleted.
The obsolete folder in the vault root directory contains the deleted
projects. The remaining obsolete folders contain the deleted files under
which the obsolete folder is positioned.
For added security, an extra copy of the latest
version of each document can be kept in the
vault. If disk space is critical, this option can be
turned off and the extra files deleted.

Where to Find It

Case Study:
Obsolete
Folders

Deleted
Projects

Select Keep extra copy of latest files in the Vault Settings.

Regain disk space by removing Obsolete and Latest folders.

Keep extra copy.

To stop PDMWorks from keeping an extra copy of the latest version of

each document, clear the option in the VaultAdmin tool.
Start the VaultAdmin tool and log in as an administrator.
Select the Vault Settings tab and clear Keep extra copy of latest
files. Click OK.

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PDMWorks Warning.

PDMWorks will remove all the latest folders from the vault. This
could take some time depending on the size of the vault. PDMWorks
will issue the warning:

Click OK, then click Apply.

3

Examine the vault.

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Warning: changing this setting may require and extended period of

time for processing once you elect to apply any changes made to this
page.

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Examine the vault in Windows Explorer. All the latest folders

will have been removed from the vault.

Stop the PDMWorks service.

Never attempt to work with files in the vault with the PDMWorks
service running.
Click Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance,
Administrative Tools. Double-click Services.
Right-click PDMWorks Server and select Stop from the list.

Locate the vault.

Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the drive where the vault is

located and open the folder Projects.
Under each project is a folder for each document.
Delete each folder named Obsolete.

Case Study: Obsolete Folders

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Restart the PDMWorks service.

In the Services window, right-click PDMWorks Server and select Start.

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The service will start, validate each file and rebuild the tree structure.

Close.

Close the Services window and Control Panel.

Archiving Files

To save vault space, files can be archived to a different location. Users

can archive individual files but the administrator can archive entire
projects.

Where to Find It

Case Study:
Archiving Files

The speaker project has multiple revisions with the most current
revision being Revision C. To save disk space we will archive all
revision except the current revision and the next oldest.

Select Archive Project on the Projects tab of the VaultAdmin tool.

Start the VaultAdmin tool.

Select the Projects tab.

Start the VaultAdmin tool and log in as the administrator.

Set the archive directory.

Set the path to the directory where the archive will be stored.
Click Browse and navigate to the \SolidWorks 2006
Training Files\PDMWorks\Vault Archive directory.
Click OK.
When users archive individual files, they will be archived to this same
directory.

Note
3

Select the project to archive.

Select the Speaker Assembly project.

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Archive the project.

Click Archive Project.

The Archive Document Revisions window lists all the files and
revisions for the Speaker Assembly project that are in the vault.

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Files to be archived can be selected individually or selection filters can

be used to limit the list.

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Set the filters.

Select Archive as the Task and All but latest 2 for Primaries.

Select All but latest 1 for Secondaries and All but latest 0 Tertiaries.
This limits all secondary revisions selected to only the first in the list
and eliminates tertiary revisions.

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Click Clear All. We do this before selecting files just to clear the
selection set.

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Click Select. All the files that will be archived are now selected.

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Click Archive.

All the selected files are archived to the Vault Archive directory we
selected.

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The Archive Document Revisions window now only shows the files
that have not been archived.

Case Study: Archiving Files

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Open the Speaker-Dual assembly.

In the Vault View, right-click the Speaker-Dual assembly and select

Open / Check Out Document.
Select the Speaker-Dual assembly in the Speaker Assembly
project.
Select the revision cell for the assembly.

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The revisions list shows that all the old revisions are archived.

Replace Graphic

If any archived revisions are listed in red, it indicates that the archive
directory cannot be found.

Note

Restoring
Archived Files

Cancel.
Click Cancel to stop the Open Document process.

The process to restore files from the archive is essentially the same as
that used to archive the files.

Once the Restore option is selected, the list will show the files in the
archive rather than the files in the vault.

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Restore files.
Select Restore as the Task and Latest 3 for Primaries.

Select Latest 0 for both Secondaries and Tertiaries. This will restore all
the primary revisions. Click Clear All, then Select.

10 Close.

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Click Restore.

Close the Restore Document Revisions window by clicking Cancel.

Mapping Custom
Properties

Existing file properties can be mapped to the properties used in

PDMWorks. For example, if a company had been using partno as a
custom property, it could be mapped to the custom property Number
used in PDMWorks. When the file is checked into the vault, the value
found in the partno field will fill in the PDMWorks Number field.

Where to Find It

Case Study: Archiving Files

Select Property Mappings on the Properties tab of the

VaultAdmin tool.

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Case Study:
Property
Mapping

In this case study we will check in files that uses different custom
properties than those used by PDMWorks. By mapping the existing
properties to those used in the vault, no additional typing will be
required.
1

Open the block.

File properties.
Click Properties on the File menu.

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Open the part Block.sldprt from the Lesson06\Case Study

folder.

There exists two properties for part number and description but the
property names are not the same as used by PDMWorks.

Click OK.

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Map the properties.

Select the Properties tab in the VaultAdmin tool.

Click Property Mappings and then select the SolidWorks tab.

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The left column lists all the file properties recognized by PDMWorks.
This includes both the default properties and the ones we added.

Enter mapping values.

To match the properties partno and desc found in the files we are
going to check in, to Number and Description, edit the value in the
SolidWorks Property column.
Double-click Number in the SolidWorks Property column, then type
partno.
Double-click Description in the SolidWorks Property column, then
type desc.

Click OK, and then click OK again.

Note

These values are case sensitive, Partno is not the same as partno.

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Refresh the Vault View.

Check In the block.

Check the Block into the sample project.

The value for partno is filling the Number field and the value for
desc is filling the Description field.

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Click Check In.

File properties.
Click Properties on the File menu.

The properties in the file retain their names as partno and desc.

Click OK.

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Document Information.

In the Vault View, right-click the Block and select Document

Information.

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In the vault, the information is recorded as Number and

Description but is shown to be mapped to the existing file
properties.

Close all open files.

10 Open the hex part.

Open the part hex.sldprt from the \Lesson06\Case Study

folder.

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11 File properties.
Click Properties on the File menu.

There exist three properties num, descrip and mat.

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Click OK.

12 Close the part.

The mapping properties cannot be set from an open file.

13 Map the properties.

Instead of typing the properties we want to map, we can also choose

directly from the properties in the file.
Select the Properties tab in the VaultAdmin tool.

Click Property Mappings.

Select the SolidWorks tab.

Click Load from File.

Navigate to the \Lesson06\Case Study folder and select the
hex.sldprt.
Click OK.

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14 Select mapping values.

For each PDMWorks property there is a pull-down list in the

SolidWorks column.
From the list select num for the Number, descrip for Description, and
mat for Material.

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Click OK.

15 Open the hex part.

16 Check in the hex part.

Refresh the Vault View.

In the Vault View, right-click the Sample Project and select Check In
Active Document.

The properties num, descrip and mat have mapped to Number,

Description and Material.

Click Check In.

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17 Document information.

In the Vault View, right-click the hex part and select Document
Information.

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The custom properties have been properly mapped.

18 Close all open files.

Copy Project

There are times when a new product is based on an existing product

with many of the parts and assemblies being derivatives of existing
parts and assemblies. Copy Project copies existing projects and all
their files to a new project with new names.

When copying projects and their files, each project and file must have a
unique name so the copy project function provides several tools to
either modify existing names or add a prefix or suffix to each file.
Click Copy Project on the Projects tab of the VaultAdmin tool.

Case Study:
Copy Project

The next generation Ink Cartridge will be based on the current model.
Create a new project with a copy of all the existing parts.

Where to Find It

The new project will be called Ink Cartridge 2006 and all parts
will be differentiated from the original parts by adding the suffix 2006.
1

VaultAdmin tool.

Start the VaultAdmin tool.

Select the Projects tab.

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Copy project.
Select Copy Project.

Source project.

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From the pull down list, select the project Ink Cartridge.

We could also have selected the Ink Cartridge project first then
selected Copy Project.

Note

Select files.

All the files in the source project are listed and selected. If we didnt
want copies of all files, we would clear the files that were not required.

Case Study: Copy Project

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New project name.

By default, the new project, project description and all files get the
suffix Copy appended to their original names.
Edit the project New Name and Description to replace Copy with
2006.
After

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Before

Change file names.

To differentiate the new files from the

original files, we what to add 2006 as
the suffix rather than Copy.

Type 2006 (space 2006) for Append document names with.

Click Apply.

Before

Advanced Select/
Replace

286

After

Instead of adding a suffix to each file, the new files could have selected
information in their file names changed using a search and replace.
Advanced Select/Replace can also search the document name, number
and descriptions for selected values and select or deselect documents
based on the search criteria.

Case Study: Copy Project

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 6
PDMWorks Administration

Advanced select.

We only want to make copies of the files that already have part
numbers assigned. First we will clear all the selections.
Clear the check box next to Document. This will clear the selection of
all documents.
8

Selection criteria.
Select Document for

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Search.

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Click Advanced Select/Replace.

Type IT in the for box. This

will search for all
documents with IT in their
name.

Leave the default <no action> for Add/Replace text.

From the list select Check Items for When applying.

Click Apply.

All document with IT in the document name are now selected.

Additional selections.

Repeat the above step to select all documents with IF or FB in their

name.

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10 Change owner.

Greg Johnson is responsible for the new project so we will make him
be the owner of the new parts.

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Select the column head for Owner. From the list select Greg Johnson.

11 Copy project.
Click Copy Project.

The new project is created with the copies of the selected files.

12 Project permission.

The new project has the same user permissions as the source project.

288

Give Greg Johnson Read/Write permission to the new project.

13 Login.

Log into PDMWorks as Greg Johnson.

Case Study: Copy Project

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14 Examine the Vault View.

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The files we selected were

copied to the new project with
Greg Johnson as the owner.
Because the top level assembly
IF10152001-A1 2005
references files that were not
copied, there are links to the
original files still owned by Jim
Jones.

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Display the owners.

This process is the same as using

File, Save As and the References button in SolidWorks.

For more information on file references, see the SolidWorks Training

Course: SolidWorks File Management.

Bulk Loading
Files

When large numbers of files need to be checked into the vault, the
administrator can speed the process by doing a bulk check in.
Bulk check ins can be done for both SolidWorks and non-SolidWorks
files.

Custom properties can be mapped to the PDMWorks properties during

bulk check in just as was done in the previous case study.

We have received several AutoCAD drawings from a sub-contractor

and need to check them into the vault.

Projects tab.
Select the Projects tab in the VaultAdmin tool.

Set the destination project.

Select the sub-project AutoCAD Bulk found

in the Bulk Load Projects parent project.

Case Study:
Bulk Check In
Files

Click Bulk Check In.

3

Select files to check in.

In the Local Drives pane, navigate to the

Bayside Gearboxes folder found in the
\Lesson06\Case Studies
directory.
Click Add files to list ==> to move all the
files in this folder to the check in box.

Bulk Loading Files

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Summary.
Adding Files to
List shows the

number of files
moved to the
check in box.

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Click OK.

Select files.

All the files are currently selected. If we did not want all the files, we
could deselect those that were not to be checked in.

Map the
properties.

Rather than
mapping file
properties, we will
map AutoCAD
block attributes.
Click Property
Mappings.
Select the
AutoCAD tab.

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Title block options.

Click AutoCAD Title
Block Options.

We want to search for

title blocks in both
model space and paper
space, select both
options.

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For multiple attributes

we will accept the first
value found.

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Click OK.

Attributes map.

All attribute blocks

in the drawings will
be listed. In this
case there is only
one block listed.
Select
Blockname:
BDR-2, then Edit.

Map the
properties.

Use the pull-down

lists to map:
Q
Q
Q
Q

DWG_NO to Number
REV_LTR to Revision
DRAWING_NAME to Description
MATERIAL to Material.

Click OK to accept the mappings, then OK again.

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10 Set the remaining options.

The options in the bottom of the box determine which project and at
what revision the files will be checked in. There is also an option to
apply a note. A default note will indicate that the files were a bulk
checkin with the date and time.
Set the project to AutoCAD Bulk.
Select Default for the lifecycle status.

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Select Default for the revision.

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Browse to the C:\Working directory for the report file.

Click Check In Files.

Click OK to confirm you want to check the files into the vault.

If we selected Read from File for the revision, each file would go into
the vault at a different revision determined by the information in the
AutoCAD block. If we tried to check the documents in, the two
documents with the letter revisions would fail to checkin because these
revisions are not supported by the lifecycle In Design. If lifecycles
were not enabled, we could use the Read from File option.

Note

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11 Bulk Check In Finished.

One the files are checked in, the number of files successfully checked
in and the number that failed are reported.

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Click Open Report File

12 The Check In report.

The report will give details on the check in process and any failures that
may have occurred.

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13 Close.

Close the report, the VaultAdmin tool and any open files.

Update
Software

The PDMWorks Client and VaultAdmin software can be updated

directly from the vault. There is no need for the administrator to update
each client and VaultAdmin individually.

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When service packs or new versions of the software are received, the
administrator should install it on the vault. When any PDMWorks
software (VaultAdmin, Client, Standalone) is started, the user will get a
message stating their software is not compatible with the version in the
vault. Clicking the Update button will provide instructions to update
their software.

File Conversion

In the SolidWorks File Management course, the need to run a file

conversion on existing SolidWorks files after updating SolidWorks to a
new release was discussed. Files not in the PDMWorks vault can be
converted using the SolidWorks Conversion Wizard. The Conversion
Wizard cannot however be used on files in the vault.
To convert files in the vault, the SolidWorks Task Scheduler is used.
This conversion process can be run on files in the PDMWorks vault
without having to check out the files.
During the conversion process, the vault locks automatically to prevent
other transactions.
The SolidWorks Task Scheduler runs specified tasks at times set by the
user.

Where to Find It

Case Study:
Converting
Files In The
Vault

In this case study, the SolidWorks Task Scheduler will be used to

convert files in a specific project.

Click Start, All Programs, SolidWorks 2006, SolidWorks Task

Scheduler.

Introducing:
SolidWorks Task
Scheduler

Open a part.
Click File, Open and select the PDMWorks vault. Select the part

Input Disk found in the Geneva Gear project found under

Miscellaneous Projects. Clear the Check Out box and click
Open.

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Old file.
Click Yes when asked if you want to open the file read-only.

SolidWorks gives us the message that the file will be converted when
saved because this file was created in a previous release of SolidWorks.
3

Close.

Close the file without saving.

Exit SolidWorks.

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We will convert all the files in this project with the task scheduler
which will run in the background.
5

Start the task scheduler.

Click Start, All Programs, SolidWorks 2006, SolidWorks Task
Scheduler.

The Task Scheduler window shows the tasks that can be scheduled and
a list of tasks that are currently scheduled.

Scheduled tasks

Task options

Update PDMWorks Files.

Click Update PDMWorks Files.

Login.

You must be a PDMWorks

administrator to update the files
in the vault.
Login as the administrator.

Case Study: Converting Files In The Vault

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Select a method.

The entire vault or just selected projects can be updated.

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Select Update by project.

Select a project.
Click Add Project.

Select the project Geneva Gear

located under Misc Projects.
Click OK.

10 Select file type.

From the pull-down list, select *.sldprt,

*.sldasm, *.slddrw. This will filter for

all SolidWorks parts, assemblies and

drawings.

11 Options.
Click Options.

Select Latest revision only.

Click OK.
12 Task Schedule.

Set the Running mode to Once and the start time for a few minutes in
the future.
Click Finished.

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Lesson 6
PDMWorks Administration

13 Progress.

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As the Task Scheduler runs, it will provide an update on its progress.

14 Close.

When the Task Scheduler completes, close all open files and windows.

Each company must establish its own procedures for document control
and the way PDMWorks will be used. The following are just guidelines
to help establish the company procedures.

Security of the
Vault

The Vault directory should be accessible to only one administrator, the

person who is responsible for installing updates, deleting files,
maintaining passwords, and other administrative tasks. Users should
not have any access to the Vault through Microsoft Windows Explorer.

Backing up the
Vault

Back up the entire Vault folder, which contains both project documents
and PDMWorks configuration information. You should do the backup
operation when no one is modifying the Vault (checking in documents,
changing ownership, and so on). To ensure no one is accessing the
Vault, first lock the Vault (see Vault Settings) or stop the service. You
can then copy the Vault folder with Windows Explorer.

Best Practices

Back up the vault regularly, and test the backup occasionally to be sure
you backup procedure is valid. Store the backup on a server different
from the one where the vault resides.
Time Changes

Best Practices

Restart the vault server after a time change, such as from Standard time
to Daylight Savings time. This resets the time stamp.

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PDMWorks Administration

Maximizing Vault
Performance

A large number of documents in a project degrades performance. More

projects with fewer documents results in better performance.
Clients can hide projects to improve performance. Hiding performance
reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred from the vault to
the client.

The vault administrator specifies permission to delete documents on

the Vault Settings tab of the VaultAdmin tool. For security,
Administrators only or No one is recommended.

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Deleting
Documents

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If you operate over a network, network performance affects

PDMWorks performance. PDMWorks cannot make a slow network
faster.

The top level directory contains an Obsolete folder, and each project
also contains an Obsolete folder, all created automatically by
PDMWorks. When vault administrators delete projects, the files move
into the top level directory Obsolete folder. When users or
administrators delete documents, the documents move into the project
Obsolete folder. The Obsolete folders are hidden from the
PDMWorks interface. The vault administrator with access to the Vault
directory should delete the Obsolete folders periodically through
Windows Explorer. PDMWorks creates new Obsolete folders
automatically.

Copies of Latest
Files

In Vault Settings, the vault administrator can choose to keep an extra

copy of the latest files (that is, the latest revision of every file). Select
or clear the Keep extra copy of latest files check box.
The copies are in a folder called Latest that only the administrator
can see (in Windows Explorer). The Latest folder does not follow
Vault folder structure. The files in this folder use the complete real file
name (in other folders, file names appear as an underscore).

Custom Properties

If disk space is an issue, you can save disk space by clearing this
check box. All the Latest folders will be deleted.
If you select the check box, all the Latest folders and files are
created.

Entering custom properties for assemblies with many sub-assemblies

and parts can be time-consuming. An efficient approach is to add the
custom properties (part numbers, descriptions, and so on) in
SolidWorks. This can be done using the SolidWorks API to generate
custom properties for large numbers of documents; for example, to
serialize document numbers or to standardize on a format of all caps.
Custom properties can be created by creating links to the SolidWorks
properties in the template files.

Files Without
Revision Control

298

There may be files that do not require revision control such as fasteners
or vendor supplied parts. References to these parts can be maintained in

Best Practices

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Lesson 6
PDMWorks Administration

the vault without actually checking these files into the vault.
Determining which files do not require revision control should be done
as part of the initial setup of PDMWorks.
To control file use (for example, references to Toolbox or other files
when opening documents in a PDMWorks Vault), clear the option
Search file locations for external references in Tools, Options,
System Options, External References.

Template Files

You can handle company template files through the PDMWorks Vault.
Add templates to the Vault only if they need revision control or to
provide secure storage. Users must copy the template files to their local
workspace.

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External
References

To maintain templates:

1. In the VaultAdmin, create a project to hold the templates

(Templates, for example).
2. Assign write access to the person maintaining the templates and
read access to everyone using the templates.
3. Check in the templates to the Template project.
4. Users copy the templates using PDMWorks Open Document.
5. Users should periodically check the Local View to be sure their
local copies are equal to the versions in the Vault.

Best Practices

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SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Exercise 14:
Maintaining the
Vault

The tasks in this and the following exercises are similar to what vault
administrators must do to maintain the PDMWorks system.
Create a backup of the vault, then delete the Obsolete and Latest
folders.
1

Change Vault settings.

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To reduce the size of the vault, prevent PDMWorks from keeping an

extra copy of the latest version of each file.

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Start the VaultAdmin tool. Select the Vault Settings tab. Clear Keep
extra copy of the latest files. Click Apply and OK to close the
VaultAdmin tool.

Stop the PDMWorks service.

Never work on the PDMWorks vault with the service running.

Click Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance,
Administrative Tools, Services.
Right-click PDMWorks Server and select Stop. Leave the services
window open.

Copy the vault.

Before making any changes to the vault, it is a good idea to create a

backup copy. Use Windows Explorer to locate the vault
C:\VaultData.
Create a copy of the vault. Rename the vault copy as
VaultData_dd-mm-yy where dd-mm-yy is the current date.
Replace the vault with the vault used for Lessons 1 through 4.

Delete the Latest folders.

Each file in the vault has a Latest folder which holds a second copy of
the most current revision of the file. By clearing the Keep extra copy of
the latest files option in the VaultAdmin tool, PDMWorks will no longer
create additional Latest folders or copy files into the ones that exist.

Examine the vault. There should not be any Latest folders.

Delete the Obsolete folders.

The Obsolete folders are the Recycle Bin of the vault. Periodically
they should be cleaned out to save storage space in the vault.
There can be numerous Obsolete folders in the vault. You must look
in each project to find all the folders. Using Windows Explorer locate
the Obsolete folders in the PDMWorks vault. Delete these folders.

Note

Exercise 14

Each Obsolete folder can be deleted rather then just deleting the
contents. PDMWorks will create Obsolete folders as necessary
when other files are deleted.

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Start the PDMWorks service.

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Make the Services window active. Right-click PDMWorks Server and

select Start.

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Exercise 15:
Bulk Check In

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Use the bulk check in function to check in

a SolidWorks assembly with a drawing and
Excel file.

Start the VaultAdmin tool.

Projects tab.
Select the Projects tab.

Select the SolidWorks Bulk project.

Click Bulk Check In.

SolidWorks files.

Navigate to the \Lesson06\Exercises directory and select the

folder overender.

Load files.
Click Add files to list ==> to select all the files.

Map properties.

Map the properties of the SolidWorks files to the PDMWorks

properties. Set the mapping to default by clicking Reset to Defaults.

Revision number.

Use the default revision number.

Check In.

Report

Exam the report. Make sure all 22 files were successfully checked in.
9

ProjectManager.

In the Vault View, examine the SolidWorks Bulk project. Notice

that besides the parts and assemblies there was also a drawing, and a
design table Excel file.
10 Close all open files.

Exercise 15

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Exercise 16:
Archive Files

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Reduce the vault size by archiving old

revisions of the speaker assembly.

Start the VaultAdmin tool.

Log in as the vault administrator.

Projects tab.
Select the Projects tab.

Select the Speaker Assembly project.

Click Archive Project.

Set the filters.

Set the filters to archive all but the latest revision.

Archive.
Archive all but the latest revision of the files.

Document Information for the assembly.

Select Document Information for the Speaker-Dual assembly.

Examine the revisions for several of the parts. Everything but the latest
revision should indicate that it is archived.

Restore.

Restore all the revisions to the vault.

Select the Projects tab.

Select the Speaker assembly.

Click Archive Project.

Set the filters.

Select Restore for the Task.

Click Select All.

Click Restore.
8

Document Information for the assembly.

Select Document Information for the Speaker-Dual assembly.

Examine the revisions for the assembly and several of the parts. There
should no longer be any revisions listed as Archived.
9

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Close all open files.

Exercise 16

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

Exercise 17:
File Conversion

In this exercise the SolidWorks Task Scheduler will be used to convert

SolidWorks 2004 files stored in the vault to SolidWorks 2005.

Start the SolidWorks Task Scheduler.

Update PDMWorks files.

Select Update PDMWorks Files.

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The assembly Limit Mechanism and its parts were created in

SolidWorks 2004 and checked into the vault. Convert the files to the
current version of SolidWorks.

Login.

Log in as pdmwadmin.

Add a project.

Select Update by project.

Add the project Limit Mechanism found under Miscellaneous

Projects.

Set the schedule.

Set the Task Schedule to run once in the next few minutes.

Check the progress.

Four files should be converted.

Examine the report.

Exercise 17

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Index

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Index

A
admin privileges 230
application log 233
archive files 182, 272

DrawCompare 120
drawings
printing 133
revisions 117

locking 10, 233

log files 233, 262
login 31
logout 31

B
best practices 297
bulk loading 139, 289

F
file associations 90
file properties 20
files
archive 272
archive/restore 182
associations 90
bulk loading 139, 289
compare to vault 79
conversion 294
delete 269
log 233, 262
names 10
not revision managed 171, 244
out of date 166
references 10, 86
removing from vault 182
restore 276
storage 10
templates 299
update/reload 166
find in vault 71
find/search 71

N
not revision managed files 171, 244
notes 67, 180

C
change project 38
check in 12, 19
from disk 89
from file menu 138
options 20
references 24
check out 65
client 9
standalone 140
common parts 177, 244
configurations 69
copy project 284
create sub-project 37
Creating 37
custom properties 107, 234, 298
mapping 277

D
delete
delete project 270
documents 171
local copy 83
order 172
user 208, 212
design library 176
dialog boxes
smart 43
disown 43
display labels 30
document information 66
documents
delete 298
deleting 171
flow 229
non-SolidWorks 89
open 65, 87
options 20
renaming 45
search 71
drag and drop 162

G
groups 213

H
help, PDMWorks 11
history 67
I
icons 28
checked out 31, 33
local view 28
K
keep latest 270
L
lifecycle 21, 223
change 46
links 40
local view 18, 28

O
obsolete folders 206, 270
on-line help, PDMWorks 11
open 65, 87
options
document 20
file format 115
tree 264
user 14, 144
output to file 115
ownership 10, 43, 65, 227228
P
password 212
change 208, 212
PDMWorks 78
components 9
interface 10
menu 10
setting up 12
starting 11
work flow 8
preview 70
preview window 66
print drawings 133
project 214
access 216
change 38
copy 284
delete 268
names 10
settings 219
trash 180, 269
project access
read access 216
write access 216
properties 67
custom 107, 234
file 20
parts 36

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Index

SolidWorks 2006 Training Manual

V
vault 9, 205
backup 206, 260, 297
folders 206
locking 233, 259
maintaining 259
regaining space 268
restoration 206
security 297
vault administrator 205
vault display 30
vault view 18
VaultAdmin tool 9, 208
global settings 231
settings 230
tree options 264
view
document informtion 70
local 18, 28
refresh 75
update 75
vault 18

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modify 208
password 208, 212
user accounts 12, 208
user interface 11
user options 14, 144
utilities 120

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R
read access 77, 216
references 10, 24, 69
check in 24
read-only 77
refresh view 75
release ownership 43
rename documents 45
report
customizing 112
output 115
output formats 115
search in 114
reporting 42, 107
restore files 182, 276
revision
bumping 109, 180
drawing 117
numbers 10
overwrite 109
rules 229
sequential 221
table 90, 242
revision scheme 20, 220
rollback 171

S
search 71
advanced 187
find in vault 71
find/search 71
operators 71, 187
reports 114
sequential revisioning 221
smart dialog boxes 43
SolidWorks Task Scheduler 133, 294
standalone client 140
status 46
automatic change 230
structure validation 265
sub-projects 37

T
take ownership 43
template files 107, 161, 299
properties 136
Toolbox 167
copy parts 168
identifying parts 168
master parts 167, 171
shared 244
trash project 180, 269
tree rebuild 265
triggers 247

U
update
client software 147, 223
vault software 294
update views 75
update/reload from vault 166
user
delete 208, 212
groups 208, 213

308

W
web portal 145
where used 69, 172
working copy 109, 221
write access 216

What do you call an elite SolidWorks user?

A Certified SolidWorks Professional.

Answer:

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Question:

Get trained, get tested, and join our worldwide community of proven talent.
See reverse for more details.

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