Hello, I'm one of 4, in a company that just invested in Solidworks, and not one of us are users of it until now.

We are trying to get out of our "old ways" of doing things and finding a good system of approving prints and organizing our drawings.

I have a few questions hopefully that can be answered or some opinions on. First, we used a program "Quick CAD" and this program just let us draw up 2D prints, we used a File system of "NEW DRAWINGS" and "APPROVED PRINTS" When we completed a drawing, we would put it in the APPROVED PRINTS folder, then delete the one out of new drawings. When ever we would release a drawing we would print it on paper, stamp it with controlled, or reference only etc. Our issue now is, we don't want to "move" all these new files from SOLIDWORKS pdf, drawing files, assembly files, part files, we want to have them "approved" still, but not mistaken as not done, or thought to be completed. We get a lot of random projects that get tabled, and we may not always finish something all the time so this is a common issue we work with. I was wondering if anyone has a simple way of keeping documents / files of approved drawings / 3d assemblies etc that are done, or not done without having to move all the files around. I just want to keep them all in one place, the ones that are approved we will save as a PDF in the approved prints folder is my only idea, I'm just thinking if their is a better way that would help.

IF you have any questions on this, I can defiantly look into giving more information. WE don't have a PDM system, it's not very organized, we have a small very non intuitive inventory program that keeps track of everything. So, we can't really go the VAULT way, we will eventually move into something new and get organized, but as of now we need a new system or a good way of managing these files currently without screwing up everything a year or two from now wishing we knew this little thing that might be good to know or have done in the first place.

My second question is, I looked in tutorials and tried finding a way of creating a "Stamp" like block, but with little success. We always would print our approved prints, stamp them with "Controlled" thus, meaning this drawing is offical and it is released. I'm wondering what is a good process or something we can do differently in this area, or if their is a good way of creating this "stamp" like block. We now can just save as "PDF" or use "PRINT TO PDF" but, I'm unaware of how to get this "controlled" stamp on the drawing before hand. I could easily put a text like "controlled" on the print, but I'm wondering if their is a way to make it like a actual stamp.

Thanks for your time,

Nate