SOLIDWORKS Copy Settings Wizard
The SOLIDWORKS Copy Settings Wizard allows users to save or restore a copy of SOLIDWORKS System Options (which includes File Locations for templates), Toolbar Layout, Menu and Mouse Gesture Customization, Keyboard Shortcuts, and Saved Views. SOLIDWORKS Copy Settings Wizard can be used to copy your SOLIDWORKS settings to a new computer, standardize SOLIDWORKS settings across multiple users, or even restore to previous SOLIDWORKS settings as whole or by specific categories as a troubleshooting step for unexpected behavior.
Launching SOLIDWORKS Copy Settings Wizard
With SOLIDWORKS closed, select Windows Start > SOLIDWORKS Tools > SOLIDWORKS Copy Settings Wizard.
- Choose Save Settings to export a settings file
- Select Restore Settings to import a saved settings file
Note, you will not be able to restore a settings file until you save a file to restore from. So best practice is to save at least one file after install or once you configure your system.
The wizard can also be launched from within SOLIDWORKS by selecting Tools > Save/Restore Settings. Caution, not all customizations are saved to the Windows Registry until SOLIDWORKS is closed, so the recommended method is to close SOLIDWORKS and launch the wizard from Windows Start. Alternatively, you can also double-click a .sldreg file to launch SOLIDWORKS Copy Settings Wizard.
Save Settings Option
Browse to the desired location to save the settings file (.sldreg). The default location is your Documents folder. Consider applying a descriptive name such as including the SOLIDWORKS version.
- The default file name is swSettings.sldreg
- The examples in this article include the SOLIDWORKS major version (swSettings-2021.sldreg)
From the ‘Save these settings’ list, select which category of settings you would like to include in the saved file. Click Finish to create the .sldreg file in the specified location.
Click OK on the confirmation screen to complete the process and close the wizard.
Restore Settings Option
Click the Browse button and navigate to the desired .sldreg file.
Note, if you have multiple versions installed, you can choose which major version to apply the settings. The example below is restoring a file saved using SOLIDWORKS 2019 to SOLIDWORKS 2021.
Choose the desired setting categories to restore and click Next>. Note, Saved Views was not part of the saved settings file, so it is greyed out and not available to restore.
On the Select a Destination screen, use the descriptions to choose the appropriate destination and then click Next>.
To apply the settings only to your Windows user, select the Current User option.
Choose to create a backup of the current user’s settings or not, and then click Finish to complete the settings restore.
Once complete, click OK on the confirmation dialog. The settings have been restored and SOLIDWORKS is now ready to use.
Copy Settings Wizard Best Practices
- Save all settings and then only Restore the categories you need.
- Settings files should be treated like SOLIDWORKS templates by saving a copy before and after every major upgrade.
- Do not apply previous versions of settings to newer versions of SOLIDWORKS without first saving a copy of the current version’s settings and then testing and verification once the previous settings have been restored.
- The Restore option can also be used to help diagnose unexpected SOLIDWORKS behavior by restoring a previously saved copy of your settings. Restoring one category at a time and then testing to see if the unexpected behavior has been resolved can be useful in diagnosing the root cause of the behavior.
For example, if you changed one or more System Options (Tools > Options > System Options) and are now experiencing unexpected behavior but do not recall which option may have caused it, you can use the Restore option to restore only the System options category, as shown below.
Video Guide
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