System and Document Defaults for "upgrade" installation

- P
- Per O. Hoel
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Aug 20, 2003 1:58 PM

For those who are installing SolidWorks for the first time, my "complaint" does not apply; however, for those upgrading, the inconvenience of setting overrides is the issue.

For example, why should it be presumed that I suddenly want my existing drawings to open in SWKS 2004 with the sheets colored dirty grey, the viewport background bright blue and the default for any new view insertions to come in as shaded?

Generally speaking, wouldn't it be prefered to have the new installation of SolidWorks adapt itself to the existing settings which users have tweaked over time?

I'd rather be informed of any new options which become available and then decide if they should be implemented.

I'm reminded of the default imposed (with SWKS 2001+ or 2003) which called for the display of arc centerpoints in each and every new drawing view. What a PITA, until the steps to shut it off were learned.

Per O. Hoel

- J
- Jeff N
  
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posted
20 years ago

Thu, Aug 21, 2003 1:40 PM

What's odd about this is that it does read in some registry keys from the old installations. For instance, file paths. I'm assuming that by installing a new version it does not overwite the stuff under the 'SolidWorks' key and any settings under the 'SolidWorks 2003' key, such as color settings, are ignored.

- P
- Per O. Hoel
  
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posted
20 years ago

Thu, Aug 21, 2003 6:05 PM

Jeff,

Yes, when multiple versions of SolidWorks are installed side-by-side, there are certain Registry entries shared (adopted) by the newer installation. Within the SolidWorks Registry Keys there are subkeys which are version specific (i.e. "SolidWorks 2003" "SolidWorks 2004", etc.) Certain setting types can be set differently in one version than the other.

To be clear, for example, the change in options for 2004 drawing background color, sheet color and default view shading are NOT overriding those set for use in the 2003 program. The issue is that drawings created and saved in 2003, when read into 2004-PR1, are forced to take on the new "2004" options, unless I change them individually to match my pre-determined, desired attributes.

What I'm hoping for is at least to be able to simply "transfer" settings from the earlier version to the newer. Just as it is possible to use the Copy Options Wizard to DUPLICATE settings to use with multiple seats of the SAME version of SolidWorks, it should be possible to have a Wizard-like routine CONVERT them for use in the new version of the program.