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Sharing SolidWorks Settings

Level = Intermediate

You can use the Copy Settings Wizard to save and restore system options, keyboard shortcuts, menu customization, and toolbar layouts. This utility can be used to save and backup your settings and share those settings with others. This allows for SolidWorks to be configured on one machine and shared with others. The Copy Settings Wizard allows for the safe share of settings without using the Windows registry.

The Copy Settings Wizard replaces the Copy Options Wizard. The output from the Copy Settings Wizard can also be used within the Administrative Director to configure SolidWorks software as it is deployed to the client machines.

The main reason to define and share these settings is so all common information (i.e., toolbox parts, templates, default settings, and other file locations) are consistently defined across all users.

Copy Setting Wizard

The Copy Settings Wizard has two functions; the first is to save the current settings and the second is to restore settings from a saved configuration. The default file name is swSettings.sldreg. Double-clicking this file will pen the Copy Settings Wizard. This file name has changed from the old default SWOptions.reg.

Figure 1 – Copy Settings Wizard

When creating the options files, the Copy Settings Wizard offers the option to define what will be saved. All settings, some of which previously were in multiple files, are now stored within a single file.

Figure 2 – Copy Settings Wizard, Save Settings

Save the desired settings to a shared (network) location to allow others to re-use this file. Optionally, this file can be used by the Administrative Director to install new clients.

Restore Setting Wizard

By double-clicking a swSettings.sldreg file or by browsing to the file, the Copy Settings Wizard allows for this file to be restored or pushed to another machine. There are choices as to the type of information that can be restored (see figure 3).

Figure 3 – Copy Settings Wizard, Restore Settings

When restoring the settings, the administrator has three choices as to the designation of the settings. The first is the location machine (current user), the second is one or more computers, and the third is one or more roaming profiles. For the last two options, a dialog box will display a listing of users or computers that will have the new settings applied.

Figure 4– Copy Settings Wizard, Restore Setting Destination

Conclusion

The Copy Settings Wizard allows you to configure SolidWorks software and to consistenly define important settings consistently across your organization.

Category : Admin, User Interface, Best Practice

Written to : SolidWorks 2006

ID: 06210517

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