Use the CUSTOMTOOLS Copy feature to move, copy, rename, assign document attribute values and/or to add SOLIDWORKS documents into the compressed folder (*.zip) in a batch. Actions available in the Copy feature, are described in the Action topic of this page.
Click the button in the CUSTOMTOOLS toolbar or click CUSTOMTOOLS, Copy.
The Copy pane appear on the left side and the CUSTOMTOOLS pane appear on right side.
The Copy pane on is used to setup the new Property values for the components processed. The CUSTOMTOOLS pane is used to determine documents to be processed on the Copy process performed.
Performing the Copy command for the document which has been changed but the changes are not saved by the user, you are prompted whether to save the changes or to ignore the changes. However, you can proceed on the copy operation also if you ignore the changes.
TIP: The Copy command could be performed also wihtout having any document open. When the Copy command has been performed without any open document, CUSTOMTOOLS creates a temporary document called CustomCopy. The temporary document created by CUSTOMTOOLS is not saved to anywhere and it does not refer to any existing document either.
Use the following links to jump directly to the section of the Copy feature side panes you are looking for.
Select the documents to process from the CUSTOMTOOLS pane located on the right side of the SOLIDWORKS window.
Determines the action to be done for the selected documents.
Save As
Saves the selected document as using the new file name into the destination folder set in the CUSTOMTOOLS pane.
Save As Copy
Copies the selected documents into the destination folder set in the CUSTOMTOOLS pane.
Once you have performed the Copy action, you are prompted to open the copied files.
Rename And Move
Renames the selected documents and moves them into the new destination folder set in the CUSTOMTOOLS pane.
Write Property Values
Writes the new values into the Properties of the documents selected in the CUSTOMTOOLS pane. The Write Property Values action performs a save operation to all open documents belonging to the document structure opened with the Copy feature to update the new property values to the files selected in the document list located in the CUSTOMTOOLS pane.
Zip
Select the Zip action to compress the selected files into a zip file.
Determines the target configuration of the document properties where the new Property values are written to on the CUSTOMTOOLS Copy operation.
Document properties
Modified Property values are written into the SOLIDWORKS document level custom properties and all the configuration specific Property values are deleted.
All configurations
The Properties are written into all existing configurations of the selected document.
This Configuration
The Property values are written to the selected configuration.
Select the target configuration by using the box.
TIP: Change the custom properties for several configurations by selecting This configuration and changing the Selected configuration.
Property Specific
Select the Property Specific option as the target configuration to write the assigned property values in a level of the target document specified in the Properties settings.
You can setup the desired document level to write the property value in by using the Initial Configuration setting located in the Basic Information page of the Property Wizard.
Document properties and active configuration
Write value assigned to a Property into the document properties and also to all configurations of the SOLIDWORKS model. Property values written to the Document properties and active configuration appear in the document's Custom level Summary Information and also in the Configuration Specific level of Summary Information in the configuration active in SOLIDWORKS model at moment of saving the document.
Document properties and all configurations
Write value assigned to a Property into the document properties and also to all configurations of the SOLIDWORKS model. Property values written to the Document properties and all configurations appear in the document's Custom level Summary Information and also in the Configuration Specific level of Summary Information in all configurations included in SOLIDWORKS model at moment of saving the document.
Please refer to the SOLIDWORKS helps for the further information about the SOLIDWORKS document's Summary Information levels available.
TIP: See the use case related examples about the target configuration options from the Properties pane help.
Include only active/referenced configuration
Select this option to include only the active or currently referenced model configuration to the output file created by an action performed by the Copy feature.
The Include only active/referenced configuration option is available only when one of the following actions that the option support, is selected:
Save As
Save As Copy
With actions that does not support the Include only active/referenced configuration option, the option is hidden.
Determines the document type where the new Property values are saved to. Properties that value is not changed in the Copy pane, are copied as they are in the source document.
By the document type scope selection you can also filter the Properties shown in the Copy pane:
Model. Shows the Properties that scope is Model.
Part. Shows the Properties that scope is Part.
Assembly. Shows the Properties that scope is Assembly.
Drawing. Shows the Properties that scope is Drawing.
Model
Write new values into the Properties which scope is Model. The Properties which scope is Model, applies to all 3D models.
Drawing
Write new values into the Properties which scope is Drawing. The Properties which scope is Drawing, applies only to the drawings.
Part
Write new values into the Properties which scope is Part. The Properties which scope is Part, applies only to the parts.
Assembly
Write new values into the Properties which scope is Assembly. The Properties which scope is Assembly, applies only to the assemblies.
Determines the project where the copied documents are assigned to. The available projects are retrieved from the Projects options located in the Profile Options tab in the CUSTOMTOOLS Options.
The rest of the Copy pane shows the Properties defined into the profile. If you want to assign new Property values for the output documents, setup new values into the desired Properties using the Property controls available in the Copy pane. Properties which values are left empty in the Copy pane are copied straight from the source documents wihtout any changes.
The icons associated to the CUSTOMTOOLS combination properties are always enabled to let the user to choose whether or not to generate and write the combination values in copy that are used for other purposes than the file naming.
For Example: In case that some combination have properties included that the user does not assign a new value for and the files are stored in an external data source like a PDM system, the properties are read from the source files and by the icon, the user can choose whether or not to generate and write the new combination value.
The CUSTOMTOOLS Pane
The following controls are located in the CUSTOMTOOLS pane which appears onto the right side of the SOLIDWORKS window when the Copy command is performed.
Select part in the document list to highlight in the model and in the SOLIDWORKS Design Tree view.
TIP: You can also select the desired part from the other view (from the Model view for example) to highlight it in the other views.
The Insert options are located in the CUSTOMTOOLS pane.
Selected Model
Inserts the structure of the selected model into the list of the documents to be processed. The existing document structure is replaced by the selected model's structure when you click the Selected Model button.
TIP: Also the suppressed models are retrieved into the document list and you can process them as well as you process the un-suppressed models.
Assembly
Select the desired assembly and insert it with its structure into the list of the documents to be processed.
Folder
Insert the desired folder into the list of the documents to be processed.
Files
Insert the desired files into the list of the documents to be processed.
If one file has more than once instances in an assembly and the instances are coming from the UNC paths (Uniform Naming Convention) or, from the mapped network paths, those instances are considered as a one file because one file cannot have more than on instance in the documents structure shown in Copy.
The Advanced options are located in the CUSTOMTOOLS pane.
Find and Replace in Filename
Opens the Replace dialog box used to find and replace user defined strings in the filenames.
NOTE: The new filenames for the files processed needs to be generated before this command could be used. If the files does not yet have the new filenames when the Find and Replace in Filename button is clicked, a prompt to generate the new filenames is shown for the user.
Import copied files to custom tools database
Select this option to import the copied documents into the CUSTOMTOOLS database after the copying process.
Exclude design library files
Excludes the files located in the Design library folders from the copy process. The files which are located in the design library folder cannot be processed with the Copy feature if this option is selected.
Design library folders are defined in the SOLIDWORKS options. Please see the SOLIDWORKS help for further information about them.
Update drawings
Updates all the drawings regarding the selected models.
Save folder
Determines the destination path for the copied model documents.
Drawings save folder
Determines the destination path for the copied drawing documents.
Click to setup the destination path for the output models, drawings and the zip files by using the following pre-defined settings.
Project save folder
Retrieves the destination path from the project's settings where the selected documents are assigned to on copy operation.
Use the Project box located in the Copy pane to determine the project where the copied files are assigned to. To keep the output files in the same project as the source files, do not change the selection made in the Project box located in the Copy pane.
Original root assembly path
Retrieves the path where the source files are located in.
Browse
Opens the folder browser that you can use to select the desired destination path.
Zip name
Determines the name for the output zip file where the selected documents are added to on the copy operation. (Available only if the selected action is Zip)
After the zipping operation, the destination folder of the output file opens automatically with the Windows Explorer.
Keep the folder structure under the main assembly folder
The original folder structure is kept in the copied structure as it is in the source documents.
Nested
Select this to show the documents to be processed as a structure based hierarchical list.
Flat
Select this to show the documents to be processed as a simple one level list where all documents are on the same level without any hierarchy.
NOTE: The Nested view mode option is not available when you open a folder to be copied by using the Folder button.
Generate Filenames
Generates new filenames for the documents shown in the documents to be processed list. Filenames for the documents are generated based on the file naming rules defined in the CUSTOMTOOLS Projects options related to the project selected in the box located in the Copy pane.
The documents to be processed by the Copy feature are shown in the list below the copying options in the CUSTOMTOOLS pane. A structure of the component selected from the model is appears automatically into the list of documents to be processed with itself and all of its related documents selected when you perform the Copy command.
To see the desired Property values of the documents in the document structure, select the Display in Copy option for the properties you want to be shown in the structure. The Display in Copy option for the desired Properties could be selected in the Additional Options page in Property Wizard.
Double click the desired document to customize its output destination path and filename.
Right-click menu:
Check all
Select all documents shown in the list.
Uncheck all
Clear selection of the documents.
Expand all
Expand the structure of all documents in the list.
Collapse all
Collapse all document structures in the list.
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Check search results
Select all documents from the list that were found by the document search.
Uncheck search results
Clear selection of the documents from the list that were found by the document search.
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Check children
Select children of the selected document.
Uncheck children
Clear child documents selection of the selected document.
Expand children
Expand the document structure of the selected document.
Collapse children
Collapse the document structure of the selected document.
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Check folder
Select all documents located in the same folder as the selected file is located at.
Uncheck folder
Clear selection of all documents located in the same folder as the selected file is located at.
TIP: Hold down the Ctrl key and click the desired documents in the documents to process list and then click checkbox of one of the selected documents to Select/Clear selection of multiple documents in the list.
The CUSTOMTOOLS Copy feature have a similar document search feature that is used also in Print/Convert feature and in the Export feature.
Search string
Type the desired keyword to be looked for from the documents to be processed list.
Search
Executes the search. Items found by the search gets highlighted in the document list once the search has been executed.
Locates and highlights the next matching row in the document list.
Locates and highlights the previous matching row in the document list.
button in the CUSTOMTOOLS toolbar or click CUSTOMTOOLS, Copy.
box.
icons associated to the CUSTOMTOOLS combination properties are always enabled to let the user to choose whether or not to generate and write the combination values in copy that are used for other purposes than the file naming.
to setup the destination path for the output models, drawings and the zip files by using the following pre-defined settings.
