What’s in those documents? SOLIDWORKS Data Management

Have you ever tried finding a document on your computer, but can’t remember the filename or folder where it’s stored, only a word or phrase that’s in the file? Wouldn’t it be great if you could find documents using words in the file? Well, SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional offers a way to not only find documents using file or folder names in the PDM Search tool, but it can also search for documents using the content or properties in files.

How is this done?

SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional (not PDM Standard) can perform content searches by using the Windows Search service. This is done by configuring the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Content (Indexing) Search to use the Windows Search service, adding the archive folder path to the indexing settings, and indexing the file vault archives. Before indexing the vault archives, make sure that the PDM database and archive servers have been installed and configured.

Enable Windows Search Service

1. In Windows, open Control Panel > Indexing Options. 
2. Click Modify.
   
3. Under the Change selected locations, select > to browse to the location of the PDM Vaults.
   
4. Select the checkbox for the desired vault to enable search.
   
5. Click OK, then Close.
   

>> Learn about our favorite tools in SOLIDWORKS PDM

Configuring the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional Content Search

1. From the Windows Start menu, click SOLIDWORKS PDM > Administration to open the Administration tool.
2. Log in to the vault to be indexed as a SOLIDWORKS PDM user with “Can update index settings permissions”.
3. Right-click Indexing and select Open.
   

If prompted, log in to the archive server as a user with administrative access.

4. In the Indexing Settings dialog box, select Index File Vault Archives.
   
5. Under Select the File Vault Indexing Method, select Windows Search.
   
6. Under Archive Locations, double-click the archive path.
   
7. In the Edit File Vault Archive Folder Path dialog box, type a path to a file vault archive folder from the SQL server.
   

• If the Archive server is on a different machine than the SQL server, enter a UNC path to the archive folder share.
• The archive folders must be accessible on locally attached storage or SAN storage on the archive server machine.

8. Click OK twice.

Using PDM Search to perform Content Searches

Login to the PDM vault as a user with search permission. In the Windows explorer interface, select the Search tool (note this may be customized and look different in your local PDM).

When the search window appears, select the Content Tab, then type the word(s) you wish to search for in the “Text to find files:” field and the required checkbox (see example below).

Then, click the run button (top right of the search window) to execute the search.

Want to know more about SOLIDWORKS PDM? Our on-demand webinar, “Get to Know SOLIDWORKS PDM” can show you how SOLIDWORKS PDM can automate and streamline your data while making it easier to locate.