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Automate Tedious Tasks with SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler

dateMay 24, 2021

Automate Tedious Tasks with SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler

Have you ever done labor-intensive tasks such as batch importing, exporting, or printing? Although these tasks don’t require much thinking, they are still very tedious and time-consuming. The good news here is that there is a way to automate such processes.

 

Introducing SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler

SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler is a tool that comes with SOLIDWORKS CAD licenses. If you have SOLIDWORKS Standard, the features are somewhat limited to converting documents to the latest SOLIDWORKS version and dissecting these documents. On the other hand, if you have SOLIDWORKS Professional or Premium license, you can schedule most other tasks or schedule distributed file conversions with the SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler. The main idea here is to run these tiresome, time-consuming tasks overnight or over the weekends or when the computer is normally idle and let us focus on more important tasks during working hours.

 

Brief Description of the Tasks

Convert Files Converts SOLIDWORKS files created in an earlier release.
Update Files Rebuilds specified files.
Update Associated files Rebuilds the specified file, plus any associated files located in specified folders.
Print Files Prints specified files using default document printer settings or selected options.
Import Files Imports files (eg. STEP, IGES, Parasolid etc.) and saves them as SOLIDWORKS documents.
Export Files Exports SOLIDWORKS documents to another file format (eg. DXF, DWG files, IGES, STEP AP203, STEP AP214 etc.).
Update Custom Properties Adds or modifies custom properties in the specified files.
Create Drawings Creates drawings for parts or assemblies, using the specified drawing document template.
Convert to High-Quality Views Converts drawing views from Draft Quality to High Quality.
Run Custom Task Runs any application, using macros or command line arguments that you specify.
Create eDrawings Creates eDrawings®, using selected export options.
Update Simulation Updates the SOLIDWORKS Simulation analysis in specified files.
Design Checker Checks SOLIDWORKS documents against existing standards files.
Render and Animation Manages rendering and animation tasks.
Build ECAD Files Builds multiple ECAD files (used by CircuitWorks) as SOLIDWORKS solid models.


Scheduling a Task with SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler

In this example, we will use SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler to do a batch export of files to PDF.

  1. Search for Task Scheduler in the windows search bar and launch SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler 20XX where XX is the year of SOLIDWORKS installed on your computer.

 

2. Select the appropriate task from the left pane. In this example, “Export Files” is selected.

 

3. Select the desired Export file type (Adobe Portable Document Format is selected here)

 

4. Select Add File/ Add Folder according to the situation.

 

5. Browse and add the Files or Folder and click Open.

6. Select the appropriate time to schedule the batch export in the “Task Schedule” area

 

7. Select where you want the exported files will be located in the “Task Output Folder” and click on Finish to begin the batch export

 

8. Let the computer do its task and observe the progress using the SOLIDWORKS Task Scheduler

 

9. Upon completion, the pdf files will be generated and in this case, it is located in the same folder as the drawing files.