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SOLIDWORKS PDM is awesome for storing your files and making sure that everyone follows the rules to get products into the customer’s hand. In SOLIDWORKS PDM, you can locate files by searching for them using the information stored in the database. Even with this searching ability, some companies prefer to have folders to organize their files. So, what can you do to keep your vault clean? SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional provides the right tools to help you organize your vault. Let's take a look as I’ll run through a couple of them right now.

SOLIDWORKS PDM is a phenomenal tool that can help you stay on top of your data. While using SOLIDWORKS PDM for storage of my files, or to show someone how to use PDM, I find myself using a few tools over and over. It is surprising to me how often our clients do not use these options, so I thought I’d share five of my favorites, and hopefully make your work a little easier.

When SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional (formerly known as Enterprise PDM) was introduced it was bundled with Microsoft SQL Standard server and user licenses. Anyone who bought SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional during this time also received licenses for Microsoft SQL Standard bundled in with the purchase. SOLIDWORKS has made several announcements over the past couple of years, regarding future updates and how they would interact with SQL licenses, and a significant change is coming with the release of SOLIDWORKS 2022.

I think I can safely assume that if you are reading this that you are looking for a better way to manage your SOLIDWORKS design files, supporting documents and product development process. Well, SOLIDWORKS offers three different data management solutions: SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard, SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional and SOLIDWORKS Manage, but how do you know which one is the best fit for your company?

In this blog, we will review the differences, clear up some questions you may have, and help you determine which is the right data management solution for you. First, let’s start by looking at the purpose and capabilities of product data management (PDM) tools and then, how each of these SOLIDWORKS products meet the need.

SOLIDWORKS clients often overlook the importance of having the correct hardware to support their new 3D CAD purchase. A common question we get asked is what should be considered before buying or upgrading equipment, so we thought it would be helpful to compile all the published system requirements along with our Engineering Team's recommendations in one place. Here is the information for this year's version of SOLIDWORKS as compared to last year.

Have you ever needed to change or even forgotten the password of the SQL Server System Administrator (SA) account? Maybe the password has been lost or the person in charge of keeping it left the company? In this article I will walk you through three most common ways to change the password and get you back into your SQL SA account.

The first method is to use the current SA password to log into the SQL Server Management Studio and change it. The second method is to use another administrator account to log into the SQL Server Management Studio to reset the password. The third method is to use a command prompt to restart the SQL service in a Single User Mode, reset the password, then restart the SQL service back in Multi-User mode.

So many improvements in SOLIDWORKS 2021, so little time! With the vast amount of upgrades and additions they make each year, it can be overwhelming trying to sift through them all, and often, useful tools and changes are missed. To ensure you are getting the most of your software, we are providing eight on-demand webinars full of demonstrations, updates, explanations and explorations of SOLIDWORKS. 

As electrical designers chip away at an electrical task, it is common for them to work together and share appropriate information while keeping design standards and workflows in place. Knowing the status of a project, previewing schematics and having access to BOM's is not only beneficial to the electrical design team but beneficial to all teams in an organization. Fortunately, there is a way to integrate electrical projects with SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional using the SOLIDWORKS Electrical PDM connector tool.

When working across multiple projects and teams, keeping up with the latest file version or revision can be a hassle. With SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard and SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional, you can maintain versions and revisions through your PDM vault and track the updates made to your projects. This article goes over the differences between revisions and versions and how to access them.