Description of Solidworks file in Windows

[svullioud_1]

Hi all

My Solidworks files are named only with numbers and on my computer I made the description appear in Windows Explorer.
I have colleagues who need to be able to access my CAD files with eDrawings.
I can't seem to display the description of the files on their workstations. The description column remains desperately empty.
Is an installation of Solidworks required on the workstation to allow Windows to access the descriptions?

Thanks in advance

[Maclane]

Hello @svullioud_1 and welcome back.

When you mention the " description " field, which your colleagues don't see, is it a Solidworks property that you want to appear when they open a *.sldasm in Edrawing?

Or is it the " description " field visible in the file properties in windows explorer?

Kind regards.

[svullioud_1]

Hello Maclane,

This is the 2nd proposal. It is possible to view the description through the detail tab of the file's properties, or to add an additional column in Windows Explorer to view it directly. Which is what I did in my position.

The doubt I have is: Is the access and display of this data by Windows only possible if an installation of Solidworks is present on the computer?
For example, my colleague who only has e-Drawings installed on his workstation can only see these properties of a Solidworks file.

[Maclane]

Hello;

Bad news, if the workstation is not equipped with Solidworks, this information in Windows Explorer is not available. (Unless you fiddle heavily with DLLs?).

I wonder if the "document manager" SDK would not do the trick, I will test on a " Non-Solidworkian " PC on occasion...

An alternative solution is the use of the " Title " fields;"  keywords '; " Comments "... from the " Summary " tab in the properties of your 3D components (From Solidworks).

…

Note: it is possible to concatenate/duplicate your Custom properties to the " Summary " properties through the Solidworks property editor, through a macro (it should drag one of this acquired in the corner...) or via the Visiativ tools. (Smartproperties or integration)...

Kind regards.

[Maclane]

For more information, here is the discussion launched by our friend @OBI_WAN on the same subject (or nearly so)...

Custom

Hello From what I understood by quickly searching it was only available in Solidworks Explorer from certain versions. SW has probably changed the way to access the personal properties of files so Windows certainly doesn't have access (the fact that it goes through the Document manager APIs seems to me to confirm this, otherwise we could access it much more easily by "simple " VBA).

Kind regards.

[jeanduverne98]

Hello world

I have a problem with my Solidworks files. They are all named with numbers, but I managed to view the descriptions in Windows Explorer on my own computer.

The problem is that my colleagues need to be able to access these CAD files with eDrawings. But on their posts, the description column remains empty, no information is displayed.

Do I absolutely have to install Solidworks on their workstation so that Windows can access the descriptions?

Thanks in advance, guys.