System and Document Defaults for "upgrade" installation

For those who are installing SolidWorks for the first time, my
"complaint" does not apply; however, for those upgrading, the
inconvenience of setting overrides is the issue.

For example, why should it be presumed that I suddenly want my
existing drawings to open in SWKS 2004 with the sheets colored dirty
grey, the viewport background bright blue and the default for any new
view insertions to come in as shaded?

Generally speaking, wouldn't it be prefered to have the new
installation of SolidWorks adapt itself to the existing settings which
users have tweaked over time?

I'd rather be informed of any new options which become available and
then decide if they should be implemented.

I'm reminded of the default imposed (with SWKS 2001+ or 2003) which
called for the display of arc centerpoints in each and every new
drawing view. What a PITA, until the steps to shut it off were
learned.

Per O. Hoel

 

What's odd about this is that it does read in some registry keys from the
old installations. For instance, file paths. I'm assuming that by installing
a new version it does not overwite the stuff under the 'SolidWorks' key and
any settings under the 'SolidWorks 2003' key, such as color settings, are
ignored.

 

Jeff,

Yes, when multiple versions of SolidWorks are installed side-by-side,
there are certain Registry entries shared (adopted) by the newer
installation. Within the SolidWorks Registry Keys there are subkeys
which are version specific (i.e. "SolidWorks 2003" "SolidWorks 2004",
etc.) Certain setting types can be set differently in one version than
the other.

To be clear, for example, the change in options for 2004 drawing
background color, sheet color and default view shading are NOT
overriding those set for use in the 2003 program. The issue is that
drawings created and saved in 2003, when read into 2004-PR1, are
forced to take on the new "2004" options, unless I change them
individually to match my pre-determined, desired attributes.

What I'm hoping for is at least to be able to simply "transfer"
settings from the earlier version to the newer. Just as it is possible
to use the Copy Options Wizard to DUPLICATE settings to use with
multiple seats of the SAME version of SolidWorks, it should be
possible to have a Wizard-like routine CONVERT them for use in the new
version of the program.

Per O. Hoel
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