– Select REFERENCE DOCUMENTS from the list. – Go to TOOLS > OPTIONS > General Tab > FILE LOCATIONS category. If you are opening an assembly containing a file named “BLOCK.sldprt” and you already have a different file opened also named “BLOCK.sldprt”, it will indicate that “the Internal ID’s are different, would you like to use it?”Ģ) REFERENCE DOCUMENTS PATH: This path is defined at the SOLIDWORKS User Level in your System Options. * This can be affected by naming conventions.

Every time an assembly or drawing is opened in SOLIDWORKS, it goes through the following steps in order to find and open dependencies:ġ) RAM: If the file is already open in SOLIDWORKS’ resident memory, it will use that file. The following steps are listed in Solutions ID S-026634 on the SOLIDWORKS Customer Portal, but I’ll expand on each. If it completes all the steps in the ‘search’ and still cannot locate the file, it will then have to depend on the user to manually locate the file. Step by StepĮvery time you open a file that is dependent on other files, SOLIDWORKS goes through a multi-step progression of paths to find a reference file. When you open an assembly or drawing in SOLIDWORKS, it ‘looks’ for the parts and/or assemblies used to define them, but “where” it looks is not always apparent. If the part doesn’t exist, then neither can the assembly or drawing. That simply means that assemblies and drawings depend on the existence of the part files for their definition. Most, if not all, modern 3D CAD systems use some sort of file referencing. Well… do you have any idea how hard SOLIDWORKS tried to find that file before it gave up? Where’s Waldo? When SOLIDWORKS ultimately cannot locate the part, it finally throws this dialog. If you’ve used SOLIDWORKS for more than a week, you’ve most likely come across this message at least once…Ĭhances are you’re seeing this message because you’ve either moved, renamed or even deleted a particular part file and you are trying to open the drawing or assembly ‘looking’ for said file.

Pan in solidworks with the path