SOLIDWORKS Copy Settings Wizard

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.

launch solidworks copy settings wizard

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.

save settings

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.

Save settings option

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.

Save these settings

Click OK on the confirmation screen to complete the process and close the wizard.

click confirmation save

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.

restore settings option

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.

restore these options

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.

SOLIDWORKS Copy Settings Wizard

Choose to create a backup of the current user’s settings or not, and then click Finish to complete the settings restore.

create backup of current user settings

Once complete, click OK on the confirmation dialog. The settings have been restored and SOLIDWORKS is now ready to use.

current user saved

Copy Settings Wizard Best Practices

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.

system options

Video Guide

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