Problem

During the initial check-in of any document into SOLIDWORKS PDM, the file attributes are checked to determine which Category the file will be placed into. The attributes that are checked are determined by the conditions set up in each Category. There are four different types of Category conditions that can be defined:

• File path
• Object type
• Revision
• Variable

File Path is the most commonly used condition and can be used to filter files based on the folder they are in or the file extension (type of file).

Solution

Below are the steps to edit the conditions of a Category:

1. Open the PDM Administration Tool (Windows Start Menu > SOLIDWORKS PDM > Administration)

2. Expand the Vault

3. Log in to the Vault with the Admin account, or another account with full administrative permissions in the Vault

4. Expand the Categories section

5. Right-click on the Category you want to edit and select "Properties"

6. To add a new Condition, click the New button. Note: For the condition to be under an existing OR folder, make sure the OR folder is selected before clicking the New button.

7. To add a new OR folder, click the OR button.

8. Optional: Move existing conditions into or out of OR folders by dragging and dropping them in the desired location.

The most commonly used condition used to sort files upon initial check-in is File path. A file must meet ALL the conditions listed within the list of conditions. If the conditions contain one or more OR folders, they must meet all conditions as well as at least one condition within each OR folder. 

In this Admin Files Category, a valid file would have to be a .txt, .log, .docx, OR .doc file type, and originate from a folder path that contains a folder labeled "Admin Files". As we can see, the OR folder allows specifying a range of acceptable condition types.

For additional support, existing customers can submit a ticket or new customers can contact Hawk Ridge Systems.