Logging Operations in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional

Staying up to date with the latest release of SOLIDWORKS Products gives you access to new features that can help your productivity.

Introduced in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional 2025 are two additional features within the logging operations functionality of the software.

• A new log that shows when users log in and log out of a vault. These are referred to as the Log-in and Log-out logs.
• A new option for the Get log to include files retrieved via the Refresh cache during log in setting.

What Are the Log-in and Log-out Logs?

The Log-in and Log-out logs allow you to view user authentication details for a vault in the SOLIDWORKS PDM Administration tool. This allows PDM administrators an easy way to track the login and logout activity of their users from any computer that has the PDM client installed.

The details are collected in a log called the Log-in and Log-out log, which includes the following information:

• Type
• Log-In Date
• Log-Out Date
• Application (The particular module of PDM client, i.e., Desktop Client, Administration, Web2, or WebAPI)
• Process Name
• Client Machine
• Client IP Address
• User

Requirements for Logging Operations

Logging operations are not enabled by default. Three things are required to make use of this feature:

• A SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional vault is required. SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard does not include this functionality.
• The File Vault Management permission for the user who wants to view the log.
• The Log-in and Log-out option is enabled in the file vault properties under Logging Operations.

How to Enable Logging Operations in SOLIDWORKS PDM

1. Open the SOLIDWORKS PDM Administration tool and log in to the vault.
2. In your user properties, select Administrative Permissions. Then, enable File vault management. This setting is enabled by default for vault admins and only need to be turned on for non-admins.
   

   Enabling the File vault management option

3. Right-click on the vault and select Properties.
   

   Opening the Properties of the file vault

4. Under Logging operations, enable Log-in and Log-out.
   

   Enabling Logging operations for log-in and log-out

What is the Get Log?

The Get log was a new feature in the 2023 release of SOLIDWORKS PDM, but was enhanced in later releases. To learn more about the Get log, read our article here.

The Get log

SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional 2025 expanded upon this capability with the sub-option, Include Refresh cache during log in. Now, an administrator is able to see every file that was cached by a user.

The following actions will trigger a Get operation for a file that was not previously cached:

• Logging into a vault with a folder set to refresh the cache during login
• Get Version
• Get Latest Version
• Get Revision
• Get Latest Revision
• Opening a file
• Previewing a file
• Copy and Paste
• Cut and Paste
• Check Out

Viewing and Exporting the SOLIDWORKS PDM Logs

The Log-in/out logs and the Get log are two separate logs, but the process to view and export them is the same.

To view and export SOLIDWORKS PDM logs:

1. In the SOLIDWORKS PDM Administration tool, right-click on the vault, select Logs flyout menu
2. Choose Show the Log-in and Log-out Log.
   

   Accessing the SOLIDWORKS PDM logs

3. Click the Save as button on the toolbar above the log.
   

   Exporting the log files

4. Select the desired file type for how you would like to open this file in another application. The log can be saved as a Text file (*.txt), Comma-separated file (*.csv), or JSON (*.json) file.

Extended Traceability with Data Management

No more searching for information that only exists on individual client machines or the server machine. The logging operations logs have a specific purpose and can be viewed from any machine with the SOLIDWORKS PDM Client installed.

Be confident in managing who is logging into your vault and which files they are accessing. Take this accountability further with SOLIDWORKS Manage to track enhanced projects, processes, and BOMs all in one place.

To learn more about bolstering traceability and compliance with your data management system, read our article here.