Enhancements for Organised CAD Files | What’s New in SOLIDWORKS PDM 2025
Written by: Wayne Marshall
Published: Dec 18, 2024
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It is that time of the year again where we get the chance to share some of the highlights of the new release of SOLIDWORKS PDM and this year we have another bumper crop of features for both Users and Administrators.
In fact, with SOLIDWORKS PDM 2025 there have been a raft of changes focused on enhancing user experience, improving performance, and providing more flexibility. So… let us dive into some of those key improvements and benefits.
#1 – User Interface Enhancements
New PDM Tab in SOLIDWORKS
SOLIDWORKS 2025 now streamlines access to the commands you use most often by adding a new SOLIDWORKS PDM tab in the SOLIDWORKS Command Manager toolbar. You will also see improvements in the Task Pane which has had its toolbar and shortcut menu’s overhauled, reorganizing some commands and adding several new options to help with navigation.
Check Out Files Directly from Get Latest
Another great user enhancement in PDM 2025 now makes it possible to Check out files directly from the Get Latest dialog, saving you time and enabling you to quickly get on with the job in hand.
Get Latest Revision
And finally, here, whilst it has always been possible to ‘get latest Version’ in PDM we now have an additional option to “get the latest revision.” For enable this a Latest Revision variable has been added to the existing system variables and is now displayed on the Version Tab.
#2 – Implemented Enhancement Requests
Improved BOM Functionality
There are also a few changes to PDM behaviour that address some extremely popular enhancement requests. Have you ever been frustrated that the BOM (Bill of Material) in PDM seems to have a random order that does not match the SOLIDWORKS Feature Manager for the Assembly? Well with PDM 2025 the Bill of materials (BOM) is now more intuitive, following the same order as the SOLIDWORKS FeatureManager.
However, to get any existing PDM BOM’s to update you would need to check them out / rebuild and Check In, so you could consider adding the File Version Upgrade Tool service to your next Upgrade if you wanted to batch process your existing data.
Specify Default View and Options for a Computer BOM
In the background, there are also a few other improvements around BOM’s that help Administration and Users alike. For Administrators it is now possible to specify the default view and options for the computed BOM while setting up a Bill of Materials (BOM) in the SOLIDWORKS PDM Administration tool, and for Users it is now possible, when opening a BOM direct in Excel to include the thumbnail previews for each item. This popular enhancement is also available within ‘Contains,’ and ‘Where Used’ within the SOLIDWORKS PDM File Explorer.
#3 – Performance Upgrades
SOLIDWORKS PDM performance is a key area of every upgrade and 2025 is no exception.
In 2025 you should expect to see improved times during file check in to the SOLIDWORKS PDM database with tests showing the file check in operation is two times faster than before in many cases.
#4 – View Time Taken to Open Files
Not an obvious enhancement but if you have ever needed to call the help desk believing your system has ‘slowed down’ its trickly to contextualise that without more information.
With PDM 2025 you can now see the time taken to open a file when it was last opened in SOLIDWORKS 2023 and above as a column in Explorer.
#5 – IT and Administrative Improvements
Behind the scenes, there are also some great enhancements for IT and your PDM Administrator.
SOLIDWORKS PDM and SOLIDWORKS Electrical Deployment
Firstly, to speed up the deployment of SOLIDWORKS PDM with SOLIDWORKS Electrical, the SOLIDWORKS Electrical to SOLIDWORKS PDM connector is now available as a standard option within the SOLIDWORKS PDM install.
This means that the connector is now permanently integrated with SOLIDWORKS PDM and no longer requires installing and configuring as a separate SOLIDWORKS PDM add-in. Configuring the SOLIDWORKS Electrical connector is now done within the Administration tool via a SOLIDWORKS Electrical node in the main Administration tree.
More User Permission Options
We have also added a bite more granularity when it comes to setting User permissions. The previously combined permissions “Add or rename file” and “Add or rename folder” have been split into separate permissions; add and rename, meaning you have a lot more control over whether a file or folder can be renamed after creation.
Complete Audit Trails
From an audit perspective after the 2024 enhancement to log ‘get’ operations, the system now also tracks user logins and logouts, providing a more complete audit trail.
SSL or TLS Authentication for SMTP Email Notifications
And finally, from an IT setup perspective with notifications in PDM Professional, you can now enable Secured Socket Layer (SSL) or TLS (Transport Layer Security) authentication in the SMTP email notification set-up. This means that SOLIDWORKS PDM 2025 now offers support for smtp.gmail.com, smtp.outlook.com, smtp.office365.com and smtp.mail.yahoo.com.
In summary, we hope you agree that SOLIDWORKS PDM 2025 will be another great release which continues to enhance the user experience, improves performance, and provides more flexibility than ever.
Categorised as: Data Management | News | SOLIDWORKS PDM
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