Unlocking the Power of SOLIDWORKS Cloud Services

Have you been wanting to start your journey with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, but weren’t sure of how best to incorporate your SOLIDWORKS environment with it? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Almost every SOLIDWORKS user has access to Cloud Services, giving you direct access to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to collaborate with your team.

In a recent webinar, we walked through a series of practical, real-world tips that make cloud integration not just manageable, but also user-friendly. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to sharpen your workflow, this guide instills the key takeaways from that session into a streamlined, easy-to-follow format.

Starting with Bookmark Editor and Product Structure Explorer

Let’s start with the Bookmark Editor, a simple tool that acts as your gateway to managing data on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Think of bookmarks as folders and collaborative spaces as your cloud-based hard drives. Once you’ve set your preferences (like enabling product expansion), you can drill down into assemblies, view components just like you would with the native SOLIDWORKS feature tree.

Complementing this is the Product Structure Explorer, which offers a lightweight, browser-based way to navigate large assemblies. One of the struggles of any CAD program is opening, saving, or generally manipulating large and complex assemblies. Many times, you have to open entire assembly just to access one or two components.

These delays have a profound impact on your ability to be productive. The Product structure explorer allows you to bypass all that. It’s fast, intuitive, and perfect for when you need to selectively open parts without bogging down your system.

Using Product Structure Explorer to explore an assembly

Seamless Integration with SOLIDWORKS

One of the most powerful aspects of the platform is how tightly it integrates with SOLIDWORKS. Once logged into the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, launching SOLIDWORKS through the Design with SOLIDWORKS app automatically syncs your session, no extra logins required.  This allows us to access vital apps like the Bookmark Editor and Collaborative Tasks directly from SOLIDWORKS.

Using the SOLIDWORKS Task Pane to access Cloud Services

Using SOLIDWORKS Cloud Services, you can:

• Lock/unlock files to control edit access.
• Check revision levels and maturity states.
• Save directly to the platform.
• Add bookmarks from within SOLIDWORKS.

Smart Configuration Management

Configurations can be tricky when moving between SOLIDWORKS and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. This necessitates the prepping of your files for compatibility using the Update for 3DEXPERIENCE compatibility option. This converts traditional configurations into a CAD family structure, ensuring a smoother one-to-one relationship between SOLIDWORKS and the platform.

Prepping a file for 3DEXPERIENCE compatibility

Uploading, Bookmarking, and Searching Like a Pro

Uploading files is as simple as drag-and-drop, but the real magic happens when you combine that with the platform’s unique tool sets. Assigning files to bookmarks, using 6W Tags to filter by metadata (like who uploaded it or when), makes it so you never waste time hunting for the right file again.

Filtering search results based on the 6W’s

Built-in Task Management

When it comes to getting projects across the finish line, managing design data is only half the battle, with collaboration being the other. With Collaborative Tasks, you can request approvals, set due dates, and attach files directly from within SOLIDWORKS.

Assigning tasks inside of SOLIDWORKS

What makes these tips so valuable is how they work together to create a seamless workflow. Whether you’re logging in and organizing data to editing parts, or managing approvals, every step is designed to increase productivity.

Want more information on how to best leverage SOLIDWORKS Cloud Services? Schedule a complementary onboarding session here.