TOP 4 STARTUP TIPS FOR TOOLBOX

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up-tips-for-toolbox/

The SOLIDWORKS Toolbox is a valuable part of SOLIDWORKS Professional and is a

great asset to increase efficiency and leverage industry standards. This universal tool
is best used companywide with everyone setup the same way. We will be covering the
top 4 startup tips to get SOLIDWORKS Toolbox running smoothly.

Here is the top 4 list:

Specify a common location for the Toolbox folder

Include Toolbox into your upgrade plans
Utilize Admin Images for toolbox deployment from the start
Control Toolbox access and permissions
TIP #1: SPECIFY A COMMON LOCATION FOR THE TOOLBOX FOLDER

By default, when installing SOLIDWOKRS, a toolbox folder is created for you under this
location, “C:\SOLIDWORKS Data”.

Even though this toolbox can be used if left like this, it is recommended to move and
save this toolbox folder to a network location or even better, a PDM vault.

Here are the steps to move your toolbox folder for a network location or PDM:

Step 1: Open your File explorer and browser to “C:\”

Step 2: Locate your “SOLIDWORKS Data” Folder and right-click on the folder to select
“Cut”

Step 3: Paste it in your desired location on a network drive or PDM vault view, where
your other SOLIDWORKS users can access it.

For PDM vault view only, please right click on the folder after moving the folder to
check-in the whole folder and then login to the PDM admin tool for you vault >
SOLIDWORKS Node > Toolbox Node and follow the screenshot below.
(Note – steps 1 to 3 only need be done once for your whole company)

Step 4: For all SOLIDWORKS users, launch the SOLIDWOKRS program and in the taskbar
go to “Tools” > “Options”.

Step 5: Select “Hole Wizard/Toolbox” in the left column menu and then select “…” to
browse to the new toolbox folder location. Once complete, select “OK’ and close your
SOLIDWOKRS software to save the changes.
TIP #2: INCLUDE TOOLBOX INTO YOUR UPGRADE PLANS

Often people forget that the toolbox database needs to be upgraded as well when
doing a SOLIDWORKS version upgrade and will get an error within SOLIDWORKS.

The SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager will automatically do this for you if it detects
the toolbox, however there are scenarios where you must do it manually such as if the
toolbox resides in a PDM vault.

We will discuss how to run the toolbox database upgrade tool manually:

Step 1:
If the toolbox folder you need to update is within a PDM vault, please make sure all the
toolbox files are checked-in by all users and then check-out the “swbrowser.sldedb”
file.

Step 2:
Browse to the following location, C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\
SOLIDWORKS\Toolbox\data utilities

Step 3:
Right-Click on “UpdateBrowserDatabase.exe” and select “Run as administrator”
Step 4:
Select “…” to browse to the toolbox folder and then select “Update”.

Step 5:
If your toolbox is in a PDM vault, please check-in the “swbrowser.sldebd” file to
complete the upgrade

TIP #3: UTILIZE ADMIN IMAGES FOR TOOLBOX DEPLOYMENT FROM THE START
Earlier in this post, we discussed how you can add a toolbox folder to a shared loca-
tion. However, you would need to go to each computer to update the toolbox location
within SOLIDWORKS.

If you want to streamline this process, it’s recommended that the toolbox location first
be added to a shared network location or a PDM vault and then utilize an Admin Image
to point to that toolbox location for client installation deployment.

To keep this article short, I will only be highlighting the area in the Admin Image where
this toolbox option can be found (see below). If you’re interested in a full guide on set-
ting up admin images, please search online for the “Official SOLIDWORKS Installation
Guide”.

Step 1:
Launch the “sldAdminOptionEditor.exe” and click “Change”

Step 2:
Scroll down to the “Toolbox/Hole Wizard Options” section and select “Browse” to select
the correct toolbox folder and select “No, install the Toolbox software without including
the data files”

Note:
The “No, install the Toolbox software without including the data files” will allow for
faster installs and reduce the installation space required, as the SOLIDWORKS Data
folder will not be installed
TIP #4: CONTROLLING TOOLBOX ACCESS AND PERMISSIONS
The toolbox is your engineering team’s library and configurator of hardware. You can
configure new sizes, add supplier information and other custom properties such as
material type.

There are times where you would want to restrict who has permission to make
changes to this. We will review how you can manage access and permissions for both
a toolbox stored in a folder location and a PDM vault location.

For a toolbox stored in a folder location (not PDM Vault)

Step 1:
From Windows, click Start > All Programs > SOLIDWORKS version > SOLIDWORKS Tools >
Toolbox Settings

Step 2:
Select “4. Set Permissions”
Step 3:
Select “Create / Change” to set your password, which will require the user to input a
password whenever the toolbox is modified

For a toolbox stored in a PDM Vault

To setup who can view vs. who can view/edit the toolbox, your PDM admin can go into
the administration tool and set the following permissions for the PDM groups:

The following SOLIDWORKS PDM state and folder permissions are required to access
and configure Toolbox:

For read/write access and Toolbox configuration:

Add or rename file

Check out file
Read file contents
Show working versions of files
For read-only access:

Read file contents

Show working versions of files

Toolbox Best Practices

Thank you for coming to DesignPoint’s Resource Library to learn how to maintain your
SOLIDWORKS Toolbox. This is a valuable part of your SOLIDWORKS software, and we are
here to help you get the most out of it. Please call in to our support line today if you are
having any issues (1-804-913-3174×3). No matter how much you already are getting
out of SOLIDWORKS and your partnership with DesignPoint always remember that
More is Possible®.