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