CAD Forum

Hello all,

We recently updated our SW to 2022 from 2020 a few weeks ago. We were planning on making new templates for this version, but we wanted to see if we could just update the templates instead of creating new ones for this version.

Any suggestions or information will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I've seen reports of people recommending making new templates frequently, but I'm still using some that were first created in 2009 without problems. I don't even save them to a new version unless I'm making changes.

Same here. Most of our templates "Date modified" property are from between 2008 and 2013. We have never had a problem that I know of.

It is recommended making new templates from scratch. You can use your old template and simply copy and paste it into the default templates SolidWorks create.

It's mostly for support reasons, because when Dassault can't explain a bug, they fall back to the easy excuse of "Oh, your template's outdated! DURRRRR"

So, if you're not sending SPR or communicating with a VAR to get issues resolved, I don't see much of a need. The issues that they pin as "Template gotcha syndrome" eventually get fixed anyways and/or can be fixed most times.

Here is some reading material:

https://r1132100503382-eu1-3dswym.3dexp ... PwoKyMKKAw

And this especially:

https://r1132100503382-eu1-3dswym.3dexp ... _O0KiQALTg

AlexLachance wrote: ↑Fri Nov 18, 2022 10:04 am It is recommended making new templates from scratch. You can use your old template and simply copy and paste it into the default templates SolidWorks create.

Maybe I misunderstand that part, but do you keep your templates in the default location in the SW installation folder?

This is not an insignificant task. Especially if you don't have good notes on all the changes you've made.

Glenn Schroeder wrote: ↑Fri Nov 18, 2022 10:45 am Maybe I misunderstand that part, but do you keep your templates in the default location in the SW installation folder?

Nope, I use the default template to do a save as, then wipe it clean and paste my old stuff into it!

SPerman wrote: ↑Fri Nov 18, 2022 12:56 pm image.png

This is not an insignificant task. Especially if you don't have good notes on all the changes you've made.

Yes, almost impossible if you have too many mixed drawing templates over some years:
I tried to "refresh" our old drawings with a macro and some settings are not even accessible properly through programming (esp. regarding tables). We are basically modifying our macro regularly to include more cases - but sometimes we have to just accept that the old drawings will never be as accurate as the new template except if you'd do more extensive programming while still having to manually set some settings.

The drafting standard is incredibly inconsistent, too. Some random settings are not saved within it!
Some settings seem to change based on the component that is linked to the document (can anyone confirm?):
i.e. Cut list options


Examples of what you might have to do manually:
Changing layers (so painful because SOME seem to be saved into the drafting standard - others not!)

Within old drawings the revision table does not have the "flag" set for it being a revision table (which can cause errors like the revision # not being set correctly within the properties). The only option is to delete & re-insert the revision table.
Some settings of tables can not be accessed through the API (as far as I know): setting the text to use the default font

If you add a sheet format/change it, SolidWorks added/adds weird properties:
the property "SWFormatSize" will be added, which can cause errors. Delete it!
the property "SW-Current Sheet" was added in old templates and if you still have it, delete it! It can cause weird behaviour regarding the sheet numbers (not showing up etc.).

IMO, this is a bit like saying:
"to build a computer, step 1 is to buy a keyboard. step 2 is everything else." good luck.

berg_lauritz wrote: ↑Mon Nov 21, 2022 12:14 pm . . . Examples of what you might have to do manually:
Changing layers (so painful because SOME seem to be saved into the drafting standard - others not!)

Within old drawings the revision table does not have the "flag" set for it being a revision table (which can cause errors like the revision # not being set correctly within the properties). The only option is to delete & re-insert the revision table.
Some settings of tables can not be accessed through the API (as far as I know): setting the text to use the default font

If you add a sheet format/change it, SolidWorks added/adds weird properties:
the property "SWFormatSize" will be added, which can cause errors. Delete it!
the property "SW-Current Sheet" was added in old templates and if you still have it, delete it! It can cause weird behaviour regarding the sheet numbers (not showing up etc.).

I have learned through trial and error that Layers are saved in sheet formats, not drawing templates (or at least not exclusively in drawing templates). Some years ago I had deleted a Layer from my drawing template, but it would occasionally reappear. I finally figured out that I had saved a sheet format before deleting the Layer, so whenever I'd bring in a new sheet using that sheet format the Layer would be back, and it would be back on every sheet, not just the new one.

Also, I had been using dark gray for dimensions and any other annotations with a leader until very recently when I was told we need to be 508 compliant. I've made changes to the drawing template so that the annotations that were previously set to use the gray Layer now use the black one and deleted the Layer. However, if I'm editing a Drawing that was started with the older template, I can delete the Layer, but if I use a dimension or note Style that was set to use the gray Layer it will bring the Layer back, so it's like I never deleted it.

Glenn Schroeder wrote: ↑Mon Nov 21, 2022 2:57 pm I have learned through trial and error that Layers are saved in sheet formats, not drawing templates (or at least not exclusively in drawing templates). Some years ago I had deleted a Layer from my drawing template, but it would occasionally reappear. I finally figured out that I had saved a sheet format before deleting the Layer, so whenever I'd bring in a new sheet using that sheet format the Layer would be back, and it would be back on every sheet, not just the new one.

Also, I had been using dark gray for dimensions and any other annotations with a leader until very recently when I was told we need to be 508 compliant. I've made changes to the drawing template so that the annotations that were previously set to use the gray Layer now use the black one and deleted the Layer. However, if I'm editing a Drawing that was started with the older template, I can delete the Layer, but if I use a dimension or note Style that was set to use the gray Layer it will bring the Layer back, so it's like I never deleted it.

Yes. Because the sheet format is saved in the document. Other things that are weirdly saved within the document are i.e. the last "printing properties". So you basically have to print once to save the standard print settings into the template.

Additionally the "standards" for the layers are only partially saved in the drafting standards. So some settings for layers (i.e. orthographic view) you will have to set manually again after changing the drafting standard.