Best Practice Information

Domain and Role/Product

SOLIDWORKS Design Collaborative Designer for SOLIDWORKS SOLIDWORKS Design with Cloud Services 

What's Covered? - Jump to each section using the Contents List in the top right! 

• Prerequisite Learning
• Introduction
• Working Concurrently with Multiple Users - The Basics
  • Track Updates Using MySession Status Information
  • Keeping MySession Status Information Up to Date
  • Updating Modified Components 
  • Replacing Out-of-Date Revisions
  • Locking and Unlocking Files
• Summary and Recommended Working Practice

Revision History

Note
All SolidPractices are written as guidelines. It is a strong recommendation to use these documents only after properly evaluating your requirements. Distribution of this document is limited to Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks employees, VARs, and customers that are on active subscription. You may not post this document on blogs or any internal or external forums without prior written authorization from Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation.
This document was updated using version SOLIDWORKS 2025 SP04. If you have questions or need assistance in understanding the content, please contact your designated reseller.

Your Feedback Requested
We would like to hear your feedback and suggestions for new topics. After reviewing this document, please take a few minutes to fill out a brief survey. Your feedback will help us create the content that directly addresses your challenges.

1. Prerequisite Learning

Before reading this guide, you must be familiar with the following:

• Storing SOLIDWORKS designs in a collaborative space on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform
• Saving to and Opening SOLIDWORKS Designs from the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform

• The fundamental concepts of 3DEXPERIENCE revision control and lifecycle 

   

2. Introduction

Whether a design consists of a high or low number of components, it is common practice during the design process for multiple people or teams to be responsible for creating and modifying different aspects of the design, often simultaneously. For design teams that need to work concurrently on the same design, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, in combination with SOLIDWORKS, provides a managed design environment that enables all stakeholders to keep track of who is working on each component, along with the modification and revision status of each.

Users who intend to work concurrently on the same design together must have a clear understanding of how to structure their working practices correctly in both SOLIDWORKS Design and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

This guide explains the basic concepts, plus recommended best practices and settings for configuring the SOLIDWORKS Design and 3DEXPERIENCE platform environment

3. Working Concurrently with Multiple Users - The Basics

The first stage of any concurrent assembly design activity is for each user to open the design. There are a number of different ways a SOLIDWORKS assembly can be opened from the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and it is important to understand the impact of each method and how it relates to the MySession task pane status display.

Starting with an empty local working folder, when a user opens an assembly from the 3DEXPERIENCE platform using File ->Open in SOLIDWORKS Design, a copy of the files is automatically downloaded to the user’s local working folder.

This is also true if a user opens an assembly from 3DSearch results or a Bookmark in the MySession Task Pane. When two users open the same assembly, a copy of the assembly will reside in the local working folder of each user.

Whether opening an assembly from File ->Open, 3DSearch, or Bookmarks in the MySession Task Pane, or directly from the local working folder, if some of the referenced files already reside in the user’s local working folder, the local versions of the files will be loaded into the SOLIDWORKS session instead of being downloaded from the cloud. This behaviour decreases the overall load time by only downloading necessary files. However, in a scenario where multiple users are working on different areas of the same assembly structure, the local copies loaded in session may differ from the versions currently stored on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Track Updates Using MySession Status Information

The Status column MySession Task Pane is used to track the current status of the content currently open in SOLIDWORKS Design versus the version stored in the cloud, for example, modification status, revision, maturity state, etc.

MySession Task Pane - Modification Status

MySession Task Pane - Lock Status

Keeping MySession Status Information Up to Date

To ensure that the MySession modification status of all files loaded from the local working folder is up to date, it is recommended that the SOLIDWORKS MySession setting “Refresh MySession after opening files” is enabled.

This option, when checked, will automatically trigger a refresh of the MySession status information of all components after the loading operation has completed. Any later modified versions or new revisions that exist in the database will be highlighted in the status column.

Note: A refresh of MySession information is only triggered when opening content from the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, and not when browsing to and opening files directly from the local working folder using the "This PC..." option.
Users should always open SOLIDWORKS content from the 3DEXPERIENCE platform when working in a concurrent assembly design scenario.

When the Refresh MySession After Opening Files option is unchecked,  MySession status information is not automatically updated after an assembly is loaded. Therefore, the user will not indicate whether later modified versions or new revisions of the files are available in the database. The MySession status information can be refreshed manually by using the Refresh MySession button in the MySession Task Pane and on the Lifecycle command manager tab.

If a user does not refresh their session information, when they next attempt to save their changes to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, the Save to 3DEXPERIENCE operation will automatically check the latest cloud status of all loaded files. If modifications to any files are detected, the user will be warned that their local copies of those files are not the latest versions. At this point, the user has the option to cancel the save operation to go ahead and reload the out-of-date files first, before saving their own changes.

Updating Modified Components 

When a refresh of MySession Status detects that newer modified versions of some of the components are available in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, the user is notified via a ribbon message in the SOLIDWORKS user interface and by status symbols in the MySession task pane.

At this point, a user has two options: they can choose to ignore the message and continue working, or choose to reload the modified components from the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The Reload From Server command is used to download and replace modified files with their latest version on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. 

For further information related to the Reload From Server command, please refer to the following SOLIDWORKS online help page.

https://help.solidworks.com/2025/english/solidworks/sldworks/t_reload_revision.htm 

Replacing Out-of-Date Revisions

In a situation where a new revision of one or more components is available following a refresh of MySession, a red cross will appear in the Is Last Revision column next to each. A ribbon message will also be displayed in the SOLIDWORKS user interface, containing a prompt to Update Revisions. 

A user can update one or more components to the latest revision in a single operation by using the Update Revisions command. 

For further information related to the Update Revisions command, please refer to the following SOLIDWORKS online help page. 

https://help.solidworks.com/2025/english/SolidWorks/sldworks/r_update_revision.htm

Locking and Unlocking Files

Before making any modifications to a part, assembly, or drawing in SOLIDWORKS Design, the user should first lock the component. Locking the file prevents other users from saving changes to the same file. In a concurrent design scenario, locking will avoid any saving conflicts. A modified component cannot be saved to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform until it has been locked.

An individual component can be locked by first selecting it and then selecting Lock from the right mouse button menu in the MySession Task pane. A green key icon will be displayed in the Lock Status column to signify that the component is locked by you.

To help guide the user whenever an unlocked file is modified in session, a ribbon message will be displayed in the SOLIDWORKS user interface, warning that the component is not locked.

A grey open padlock icon in the lock status column signifies that a component is not locked by anyone.

A red padlock icon in the lock status column signifies that a component has been locked by another user. Hovering the cursor over the padlock will display a tooltip showing the user name.

Note: Components can also be locked and unlocked using web widgets for example Bookmarks Editor.

To help a user avoid accidentally losing modifications that have not been saved to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, when attempting to unlock a locally modified component, the following prompt is displayed,

4. Summary and Recommended Working Practice

Having a situation where components are modified ad hoc by different users without any prior planning can be difficult to manage. This is the same no matter what CAD tool and PDM/PLM solution a company is using. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that whenever possible, project teams dedicate time to planning which users or user groups will be responsible for each area of an assembly structure. This will enable everyone to work in an efficient and structured manner, avoiding conflicts

Below is a summary of the guidelines for working in a multi-user design scenario

• Always work with SOLIDWORKS connected to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform whenever possible. This will ensure that the status information in the MySession task pane can remain up to date

• Enable the "Refresh MySession after Opening files" option. This will ensure that the status column will always display the latest information

• Open SOLIDWORKS content from the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform and not directly from the local file system

  • SOLIDWORKS will check the available files in the local working folder first before downloading

  • Only open SOLIDWORKS content directly from the local working folder in situations where a connection to 3DEXPERIENCE is not possible, e.g., travel, network outage

• Before making any modifications in SOLIDWORKS Design, users should always lock the components that they intend to work on. This will ensure that no situation occurs where more than one person has modified the same file in their local working folder, and then attempts to save it to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

• Use the manual MySession information refresh while working in a session to check for concurrent changes

  • Automatic refresh of MySession information on save will catch any updates if you forget!