PDM: Searching Local Files — Perception Engineering

Searching Local Files

You’ve been working with SolidWorks PDM and it has worked well for the most part. Lately, you’ve noticed that occasionally the files you’re saving to the vault aren’t showing up. Especially if you’ve been working with step files (.step) or you saved files while working in offline mode. This blog will go over a quick tip that may save you hours of frustration trying to find them or worse, having to recreate them completely.

Searching Local Files

When you’re working in offline mode in SolidWorks PDM you are still able to save files to your vault, even if they were created while you were in offline mode. When you save a file that you created in offline mode, it is added to your local vault view. Once you go back to working online you may notice that the part, that was visible when offline, is now nowhere to be found. Don’t panic quite yet! It may still be there, just in your local vault view. To check, you’ll have to search for local files in the vault. To do this, go to your vault and right-click anywhere where there is empty space. It is preferable that you do this at a higher level, as it will then search through all the subfolders as well, assuring that you have no hidden files anywhere. Once you right-click you will see an option, Search Local Files. Select this.

Figure 1: Search Local Files Location

If there are any files that are hidden, a dialogue box will pop up with a list of the hidden files, their location, and the option to add them or not.

Figure 2: Adding Files Dialogue Box

If you have noticed any files missing, it’s worth giving this a try. It takes seconds and it’s not only when in an offline mode that files may not appear. Sometimes, when saving SolidWorks files as step files or when step files as SolidWorks files, they may not appear either. Chances are, searching for local files could be the solution.

That’s all for now! You now know how to search for local files. We're so glad you took the time to read our blog! If you have any questions or need our contract services, please feel free to reach out to us anytime. We're always happy to help!