How to do Auto Recovery & Backups?

I.    Auto-recovery

1. Go to options or Tools > Options > Backup/Recover

2. In the Auto-recover box, tick the Save auto-recover information every: and set the duration to 1 minutes (Default value).

3. Browse a folder and navigate to the directory shown for Auto-recover. ( Note: The path as shown is the default directory.)

 

4. Start a new SOLIDWORKS part, after 1 minute a file named: “AutoRecover Of PART_NAME.SLDPRT.swar” will appear in the directory.

 

II. Backup

1. Go to options or Tools > Options > Backup/Recover

2. In the Backup box, tick the Number of backup copies per document and set the number to 1.

3. Choose the Backup folder and browse a Windows Explorer Window and navigate to the directory shown for Backup.

 

4. Tick on the Remove backups older than, then key in 7 into the box.

5. Start a new part file and add a feature and save your model. You should now see a file named “Backup (1) of PART_NAME.SLDPRT” in the directory.

6. If another feature is done, hit save again and a new file named “Backup (2) of PART_NAME.SLDPRT” will occur.

What if license not transferred out due to computer damage?

 Disable Request

1.    The flowchart below shows the process of disable the license for SOLIDWORKS:

Note:

• For the activation/deactivation of the SOLIDWORKS License, please refer to user manual A.1.

• Once the disable request is approved, the computer is unable to activate SOLIDWORKS using the         same series number.

• The disable form is attached below:

Disable Request

Serial Number (24 Digits):

Computer ID:

End User Account Name:

VAR Name: CADVision Systems Penang Sdn. Bhd.

Disabled Reason:

<Company Name> would like SolidWorks to disable computer ID: <Computer ID> to release one license on Serial Number: <Series Number> will not install and activate this license on this machine any more in future.

End customer director:

VAR director: 

Request Date:

    

Note: Please fill out this request form and sign this by end customer and VAR or make a stamp of end customer’s company. And save this as PDF or JPEG format and send back this agreement to customercentersr@solidworks.com

We will review your customer’s history and this request the fix this problem.

How to borrow SOLIDWORKS License?

1. In the Start Menu, search for the SolidNetWork License Manager Client 201x program.

2. In the SOLIDWORKS SolidNetwork License Manager window that appears, go to the ‘License            Borrowing’ tab. All available product licenses will be shown in the area on the left.

3. Select the product that you want to borrow, and choose the date from the ‘Borrow until:’ option.           (Note: a license can only be borrowed for a maximum of 30 days). Click ‘Borrow >’.

 

4. After a few seconds, the borrowed licenses will appear in the ‘Borrowed product licenses’ area.             Click OK to close the SolidNetwork License Manager window.

5. Open SOLIDWORKS without connecting to the network to double confirm the success of the                 license borrowing process.

How do I check my package/products?

 1. Go to Start > SOLIDWORKS 201X > SOLIDWORKS Tools > My Products

2. The software package will be show

3.    This also can be access in the SOLIDWORKS Help icon.

How to use Pack and Go?

Launch the Pack and Go feature from within a SOLIDWORKS session (I will list an alternate method below).  This is found under File > Pack and Go…

A view of the default interface settings is shown below.  If I’m going to share data with another user and it’s important to include all assemblies, parts and drawings, I’ll check the box in the upper left to “Include Drawings” and I’ll hit the radio button to “Save to Zip file”.  I also typically leave the box checked for “Flatten to single folder”.  If the flatten option is deselected, the resulting zip will contain sub-folders similar to the original folder locations for each respective part and subassembly.  By default, the zip file will take on the name of the assembly or drawing that was chosen for the Pack and Go.  We can rename this zip file to any name we choose.

The Output

The resulting zip file that is generated includes all of the files along with their updated references.  If this file is opened in a fresh SOLIDWORKS session on my system, it will not reference the original files, so long as they are not already resident in memory and as long as I left all of the boxes checked for each component name along the left hand column.  The file can also be sent via FTP or email to another user with the same results.

Looking more closely at the contents of the zip file, we can see that all of the associated assembly and part files are included.  If this data set had drawings, they would be included as well .

Second Way to Launch Pack and Go

Some people prefer to launch Pack and Go from the Windows file explorer right-click menu.  This might save time from opening the assembly in a SOLIDWORKS session, but it does make it a bit more difficult to see which files were resolved or lightweight in the last save of the assembly.  For this reason, I’m not a big fan of this method.  Why is the lightweight/resolved setting important?  See the drawbacks in the next section.

Important things to take notes:

Historically, there are a couple of things to watch for. First, make sure the assembly is loaded with all of the components fully resolved.  A lightweight component most likely will not make it into the pack and go and you’ll receive a call for missing files from the customer. Beware if you see the blue lightweight feathers below in your feature tree