proven software to write instruction manuals with?

[ProjectEng99]

Proven software to write instruction manuals with? Prefereably that is Solidworks friendly?

I've been using Word and it's awkward.

 

[ctopher]

I don't know of any that are 'SolidWorks friendly', but the two listed below are good ones.

MS Publisher

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA101759171033.aspx

Adobe Creative Suite

http://www.adobe.com/products/?ogn=EN_US-gn_prod

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated Apr 30, 2008)

 

[handleman]

Never heard of this product until today, but it seems to claim to do just what you want:

http://www.ptc.com/products/arbortext-isodraw

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[NL8]

Look into SolidWorks new integrated product, 3DVIA. Originally Seemage, the company was recently bought out by SW to provide a technical documentation platform that was and is fully compatible with SW.

Joe Hasik, CSWP
SW 08 x64, SP 3.0
Dell T3400
Intel Core2 Quad
Q6700 2.66 GHz
3.93 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600

 

[dogarila]

We had last week a PDM presentation by our VAR and he mentioned a software for technical manuals and ilustrations integrated with SolidWorks. I don't recall its name but call your VAR and ask about it.

 

[EEnd]

Depending on your style / preferences, LyX at

http://www.lyx.org/Home

may be of interest. It is based on TeX / LaTeX which I used for journal articles and my thesis in college. There is more setup and a steeper learning curve than for something like Word. But once up and running it is easier to get consistent formatting, figure captions and auto updating references to figures. Your figures will need to be saved as encapsulated postscript (eps) or maybe pdfs if you are lucky. Overall comparing it to Word is similar to comparing Linux to Windows.

Eric

 

[keepinitcool]

Framemaker is a common program for technical manuals. It is a desktop publishing program that supports large amounts of text, tables, formulas, etc... Adobe bought them many years ago. Way better than Word for this. Not sure about Solidworks integration.

 

[ProjectEng99]

Thank you everyone, I appreciate it.

 

[drawoh]

ProjectEng99,

Why is Microsoft Word awkward?

The advantage of Microsoft Word is that everybody has it on their computers. The DOC format is pretty close to universally readable. I would be very reluctant to allow software that was not so easily read.

JHG

 

[uGlay]

3DVIA no question. It interfaces directly with SW and does a ton of work for you that saves you time and $$.

Call your reseller and ask for a demo.

 

[ctopher]

I forgot about this one. Also good for creating manuals.

http://www.driveworksxpress.com//index.php/What-more-can-I-do-/Custom-Forms.html

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated Apr 30, 2008)