How To Correct The “Default Templates Are Not Valid” Error
How To Correct The "Default Templates Are Not Valid" Error
SOLIDWORKS
In this article we are going to show how to correct this error message when creating new files in SOLIDWORKS as well as explaining the cause of the error and how to correct this, and potentially other errors, after updating SOLIDWORKS to a new version/year.
The Quick Fix
There are two settings we will need to inspect to correct this issue and both will be found in “System Options”:
Setting #1: Update File Locations settings for Templates:
1. Open “System Options” and select “File Locations” in the left side of the “System Options” window
2. Make sure that “Document Templates” is selected in the “Show folders for:” dropdown menu
3. Delete any older version default template folders that are listed, for example:
“C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS 2019\templates” is the default location for SOLIDWORKS 2019
4. If it is not listed, add the default folder for the current version of SOLIDWORKS, for 2022 it is: “C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS\SOLIDWORKS 2022\templates”
5. Click OK to close the “System Options” window and apply the new settings
Note: Depending on your computer and domain security settings, User Access Control typically prompts twice for Administrator permissions to save these settings. If you do not have local Administrator rights you can click “No” on both prompts and the settings should still be applied. If the settings are not applied due to IT security policies you will need to request your IT team to provide local Administrator credentials to complete these steps.
Setting #2: Update Default Templates and settings:
1. Open “System Options”
2. Select “Default Templates on the left side of the “System Options” window
3. Check the file locations listed for each type of template. Most commonly, one or more entry references a folder that no longer exists due to:
- The previous version of SOLIDWORKS default folder was deleted
- A custom template folder being moved/renamed/deleted
- A network share name being changed
- A mapped drive letter is being changed.
4. Click the ellipses button (…) next to each template path that needs to be updated and select the appropriate default template for each file type
5. Click OK to close the “System Options” windows and apply the new settings.
Pro Tip: Common Causes & Preventive Maintenance
This is most often caused by upgrading SOLIDWORKS to a newer version (year). The installation manager will not overwrite any customized template folder locations, so if they were located in a folder with the version/year included, your “File Locations” will still be pointing to the default locations for the older version of SOLIDWORKS.
In order to quickly update all of these old locations, you can use a Find/Replace function for File Locations to update all the old versions at once.
1. Open “System Options”
2. Select “File Locations” on the left side of the “System Options” window
3. Select the “Edit All” button to the right of the “Show folders for” dropdown menu
4. Click “Find/Replace”
5. Enter previous version number in the “Find” box and the current version number in the “Replace” box and click “Replace All” (repeat this step if you find multiple older version numbers in the file locations list)
6. Once you have finished replacing the old folder paths, simply click “Save” and then “OK” to apply the new folder locations settings.
Technical Support
We hope you found this information valuable! If you have any follow up questions and are an MLC CAD Systems customer, please contact support at 800-364-1652 x 2 or by email at solidworkssupport@mlc-cad.com.
You can also click here to submit your Technical Support Case.