What Is Cloud Services for SOLIDWORKS, Exactly?

It’s the exact same SOLIDWORKS that you know and love, just with the add-in that connects you to the 3DExperience platform. You’ll then have access to other 3DExperience tools that can now be run through your browser.

How Do I Determine If I Have Cloud Services for SOLIDWORKS?

First of all—did you purchase your SOLIDWORKS seat after July 2023? If you did, you have access to Cloud Services.After you purchase a SOLIDWORKS seat you (or your CAD Admin) should receive an email from Dassault Systemes with the subject: "Action Required: Your 3DEXPERIENCE platform is ready"—Check for this and follow the steps to get access to your platform and Cloud Services.If you have access to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, look for the “Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS” or the “3DEXPERINCE SOLIDWORKS” Dashboard Cockpits in your Compass menu. These roles represent Cloud Services access. Log in with your 3DEXPERIENCE ID to check.Ask your companies IT or CAD Administrator to help you gain access.Ask your Reseller for Help.

Does Cloud Services Automatically Come With My SOLIDWORKS Subscription?

All new licenses with subscriptions purchased after July 2023 automatically comes with Cloud Services.

How Do I Activate Cloud Services If I Purchased My SOLIDWORKS License Before July 2023?

If you’re interested in adding Cloud Services to your subscription, reach out to your VAR to discuss upgrading your license. Not sure who your VAR is? Follow the below link to find a reseller: Find SOLIDWORKS reseller

Is There Any Software I Need to Install to Begin Using Cloud Services for SOLIDWORKS?

There is a “Design with SOLIDWORKS” add-in on your Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS dashboard. You’ll click that to install, and then click the same button again once it’s downloaded to launch the add-in connection between SOLIDWORKS and the 3DExperience platform. For more information, check out the “Getting Started” modules.

Getting Started

Everything you love about SOLIDWORKS just got even better with Cloud Services (we promise). But first, let’s figure out what account you have. 

I'm the Owner of My Account

As the account administrator, I'm responsible for configuring Cloud Services for my team.

I Was Added to an Account

As a member, I need help setting up Cloud Services to start collaborating with my team.

Still not sure if you have Cloud Services?

Addressing the Elephant

Getting Started With Cloud Services Isn’t So Bad

Cloud Services removes the friction associated with traditional design sharing and collaboration—but how do you get started? You’re just a few steps away from unlocking the full power of Share & Markup, Store & Revise, and Manage & Control.

Getting Started with Cloud Services

Let’s Address the Elephant in the Room

You like SOLIDWORKS the way it’s always been. We can (and do!) appreciate that. But we designed Cloud Services to make everything that’s great about SOLIDWORKS even better. That means new benefits like real-time collaboration, secure access to your files from anywhere, modernized data management, and more.

Here are a few reasons to trust the elephant.

What Exactly Is Cloud Services?

It’s the exact same SOLIDWORKS version you’re used to, but with an add-in that connects your desktop software to our 3DEXPERIENCE platform (the portal where all our cloud-based apps live). All new SOLIDWORKS licenses include the Cloud Services add-in, or you can choose to add it to existing licenses.

The Big Idea Behind Cloud Services

SOLIDWORKS started with a big dream — moving CAD away from ivory towers and putting the power to create on every engineer’s desktop. Now we’re continuing that mission by using cloud technology to streamline — or completely eliminate — mundane, non-value-added tasks that consume a lot of your valuable design time.

Share & Markup

Share your 3D designs with anyone - directly from SOLIDWORKS.

Learn More

Store & Revise

Make versioning simpler with an online storage hub that's purpose-built with CAD relationships and collaboration in mind.

Learn More

Manage & Control

Enjoy full access to a suite of tools that help you manage data work through formal change action and approvals, and keep project tasks in check.

Learn More

The three key features are powered by three applications (called “roles”) on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. You will only need to interact with these roles during this initial installation stage — once assigned, everything will work transparently through your SOLIDWORKS software.

3DSwymer
You can think of this like SharePoint for Microsoft. 3DSwymer gives SOLIDWORKS users a dashboard and interface along with shared groups and folders so you can collaborate with other team members.

Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS
This is our cloud-based data management tool that is flexible and scalable for both simple and complex needs. It gives multiple stakeholders across different departments of your organization visibility into a project’s status and lifecycle, and it documents when team members collaborate, review, and make changes.

Collaborative Industry Innovator
This is similar to a project management or to-do app. It gives multiple stakeholders across different departments of your organization visibility into a project’s status and lifecycle, and it documents when team members collaborate, review, and make changes.

Four Massive Reasons to Use Cloud Services

While the elephant still has the floor, he wants to explain one more thing about Cloud Services. No matter what your role is or what your team does, you will work more efficiently and productively if you use the power of the cloud. Here are 4 good reasons to try it:

1. Collaborate with Anyone

Share viewable, markup-ready SOLIDWORKS designs with anyone — even non-SOLIDWORKS users. They don’t have to install anything, and you don’t have to send them your actual files. You will be able to invite ANYONE to collaborate in the cloud to view and mark up your 3D designs.

2. Work from a Single Source of Truth

All stakeholders can participate in a unified, single collaboration environment. Every team member always has access to the same data from anywhere, anytime, helping your team avoid costly mistakes and redundancies from using outdated, inaccurate or incomplete information. Version or revision your files with a single click, making complicated file names a thing of the past. When your work is complete, you can just release your design to other designers.

3. Enjoy Secure Storage

With cloud-based storage, you never have to worry about losing your designs. All your data is safe, secured, easily accessible, and can be saved to secure storage right from SOLIDWORKS. And, again, saving your files to our secure cloud means you can access them from anywhere.

4. Streamline Your Engineering Processes

This isn’t just a space to store your files. If you choose to, you can also manage change actions, approvals, and project tasks, directly from your SOLIDWORKS application. This solution scales with you regardless of your needs.

Administrator: Installing and Activating Cloud Services

Once you’ve decided to give Cloud Services a try, the first step is to activate and install a couple things. This module walks Administrators through the setup process.

Get started

Member: Installing and Activating Cloud Services

You received an invitation from your Administrator to start using Cloud Services. Great! This module walks you through the activation and installation process. 

Get started