Re-organising a young Solidworks life. 1

[rocksolid2]

Hello All

After you have read this first line please do not close this thread. I really need some help. My question is this. Is there an easy, no-hassle way to re-organise Solidworks parts and assembly files?

When I first began using Solidworks I wasn't aware of the implications of not naming each part with part numbers etc, and now I find to my misfortune that my folders are in a bit of a mess. I have some parts labelled with dates then what they are, e.g. 18_11_02....., and some with just names, and I am concerned about what will happen when I move these files between new folders with regard to their references.

All in all I have around 200 total parts/assemblies, most are revisions of the same thing and I can find what they are its just the busiiness of renaming I'm not sure about.

I know I've screwed up here but owing to my naivety when I first set out on the path to Solidworks discovery I'm hoping that some words of wisdom will prevail here and ease my suffering.

Thanks in advance.

 

[meintsi]

Renaming and moving files while maintaining all existing references is what SolidWorks Explorer is all about.

Works great!!!

Good Luck.....

Remember...
"If you don't use your head,
your going to have to use your feet."

 

[TateJ]

1. You can try using SolidWorks Explorer to rename your files.

2. Open a part and then choose to SAVE AS rather than SAVE. You can choose to SAVE AS COPY or to just SAVE AS. if you SAVE AS, Solidworks will replace every file reference with the new name.

Read-up on these two options, I'm sure you'll figure something out. But first, make sure you have a strategy for re-naming you files that will work, so you won't have to go thru this again.

We're going thru something similiar here. We've had a dozen or so meetings and are still hashing-out some issues.

​

tatej@usfilter.com​

aka: Little Debbie's Boy-Toy​

 

[RawheadRex]

There's good news and bad news.

First the bad news. I'll start off by echoing the sentiments of the previous reply. You're going to have to do some homework on SolidWorks Explorer and the SaveAs command in order to dig yourself out of the hole that you're in. I don't believe that anyone who's been in the position you currently find yourself in would describe finding there way out as being either "easy" or "hassle-free."

SolidWorks file management isn't the easiest thing for new users to cope with (especially for people switching from a package like AutoCAD and that's speaking from experience).

The good news is that once you get yourself out of the woods with this problem, you won't ever end up back in the same spot again. That's because I predict that you will understand this aspect of the software with the utmost clarity. There isn't any doubt in my mind about this statement.

A word of advice, having a standard file naming scheme going forward will help out tremendously as well. I realize that's repeating a previous comment but my point is to emphasize the inherent value of this suggestion.

Chris Gervais
Mechanical Designer
American Superconductor