Top 2 PDM Client Settings to Adjust
Show Bitmap for SW Files
Written by: Quinton Rocke, Application Engineer
There are two client out-of-the-box settings in PDM that users should consider adjusting in their local vault views on a fresh install. The first setting can help PDM vault views run faster and the second will cause less confusion.
Show Bitmap for SOLIDWORKS Files
The first is option to adjust is to enable the “Show bitmap for SOLIDWORKS files” setting. With this enabled, the Preview tab will not launch straight into eDrawings when you click on a SOLIDWORKS file in the vault view. Instead, it will show a bitmap preview. As soon as you click anywhere on that bitmap image it will load the eDrawings viewer. Enabling this option gives you faster browsing when the Preview tab is active and still gives you access to the eDrawings with one click of the mouse.
To enable this option in your vault view, navigate to your Display pull-down menu and choose Options > Show bitmap for SOLIDWORKS files.
Set Focus to Active Configuration
The second most common out-of-the-box adjusted setting is in that same Options pull-down menu and is called “Set focus to active configuration”.
This options is usually enabled by default, but most users choose to disable it. This setting controls which configuration tab is activated by default on the Data Card tab when you click on a SOLIDWORKS model. When enabled, PDM will automatically go to the tab of the last active configuration.
Most users typically put in custom properties over configuration specific properties and thus typically want to see the @ tab of a Data Card by default. While there is no setting to force PDM to default to the @ tab at least when you disable the “Set focus to active configuration” PDM will remember whatever tab you clicked on. Being that is likely the @ tab, this means PDM will stay on that tab for the entire session unless you purposely change it.