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I'm looking for some best practices for configuring the default file locations across all users on my team. I want to ensure all aspects that can be customized are shared so that users can take advantage of other's work, however I also want to ensure that when SolidWorks adds new features or updates the configuration, or adds items to the default design library etc, we get access to them, and that our customizations remain intact and we don't lose previous work/customizations during an upgrade, so best of both worlds?

Do you all have any best practices for which file locations you update to a shared location (dropbox) and which ones you keep as default? I understand some can have multiple locations listed, do you often keep the default and add a custom?

Here's the list of items I'm referencing https://help.solidworks.com/2024/Englis ... Redirect=1

File Type Default Location
Document Templates 1 C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\templates
Document Templates 2 C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english\Tutorial
Referenced Documents C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\design library\routing
Bend Table Template C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
BOM Templates C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Color Swatches C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english\colorswatches
Costing Report Template Folder C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Costing templates C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\lang\english\Costing templates
Custom Property Files C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\lang\english
Design Library 1 C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\Design Library
Design Library 2 C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\design library
Dimension/Annotation Favorites C:\Users\user\Documents
DimXpert Callout Format File C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
DimXpert General Tolerance File C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Drawing Scale Standards C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
General Tables Template C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Hatch Pattern File C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Hole Callout Format File C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Hole Table Templates C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Material Databases 1 C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english\sldmaterials
Material Databases 2 C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\Custom Materials
Material Databases 3 C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\Sustainability
Punch Table Templates C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Revision Table Templates C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Search Paths C:\SOLIDWORKS Data
Sheet Formats C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\lang\english\sheetformat
Sheet Metal Bend Line Note File C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Sheet Metal Bend Tables C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english\Sheetmetal Bend Tables
Sheet Metal Gauge Table C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english\sheet metal gauge tables
Sustainability Report Template Folder C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Symbol Library Folder C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\lang\english
Thread Profiles C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS version\thread profiles
Title Block Table Template C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Weld Table Template C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Weldment Cut List Templates C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english
Weldment Profiles C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english\weldment profiles
Weldment Property File C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\lang\english\Weldments
3D PDF Themes C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\data\themes
Structure System - Connection Elements C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS\data\Structure System - Connection Elements
Inspection Project Template Folder C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS Inspection version Addin\Templates
Inspection Report Template Folder C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS Inspection version Addin\Templates

Our team just got onto SW PDM Pro, so keeping some files in there could make sense. I've seen many people keep templates and macros in there which we could do, though we do work offline quite a bit so I have concerns about ensuring local cache remains intact.

Thank you,

I created all of our most used default file locations and consolidated them into a single folder on the network (with sub-folders for each one).

Then I assigned the proper locations, and then use the Copy Settings wizard to create a copy of my settings and placed the output file on the same network location.

Now, whenever there is a new install or a new user, I walk around and use the copy settings wizard that apply that same file to each person's Solidworks install.

Pretty easy and quick to do.

Edit: we don't use PDM

We use PDM and we have all the libraries and templates into a folder updated at the vault login time.

I deploy sw with admin image and some custom scripts since admin image tools and the settings wizard have their own shares of issues.

I would put most of your templates in PDM. We have our template folder do a get latest every time a user logs into PDM. It will then still be on your computer even if you are offline. You can work offline in PDM.

Also, you can then control write access and see what changes you have made to the templates. We have a special state for templates so that only admin users can check out and modify them.

All our templates and such are in a shared folder. An exception is Toolbox, which is local because we use Teamcenter for a PDM and it requires the local folder. Having Toolbox local also helps speed things up when working remote. To keep users aligned, we have a batch file that they can run occasionally as needed. It downloads files from a central Toolbox and updates the local files.

Dwight