What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2018: Your Guide to SOLIDWORKS 2018 Features

Every year SOLIDWORKS comes out with a new release. SOLIDWORKS 2018 includes new features, enhanced tools, and interface makeovers aimed to make your experience better than ever. While this release has all the new bells and whistles, they’re of no use if you don’t know how to use them. We’ve included a list of the top new SOLIDWORKS 2018 features and answered some of the most frequently asked questions about SOLIDWORKS 2018.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 feature No. 1: Touchscreen capabilities

The addition of the touch toolbar is a useful improvement if you run SOLIDWORKS on a touchscreen device. It makes it easy to access commonly used functions in touchscreen mode and utilize SOLIDWORKS in a hands-on and intuitive way. SOLIDWORKS 2018 features make sketching with a touchscreen possible. You can capture your ideas without the limitations of predefined sketch tools. Use the pen tool to draw freehand shapes in any color you like, and even convert your shapes into sketch entities.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 feature No. 2: Changes to part design

One of the highlights of the SOLIDWORKS 2018 release is the new way to work with imported mesh files. You can now take the faces from mesh geometry and create a surface approximation of those faces. This is a huge upgrade for those working with complex mesh files from outside SOLIDWORKS because it allows you to rebuild files parametrically that would otherwise be unworkable. Increase productivity and improve efficiency with new SOLIDWORKS 2018 features.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 feature No. 3: Reducing misalignment in assembly design

There are many new Assembly Design features, but the ability to add Misaligned Mates stands out. If you want to inspect the effect of misaligned holes between components when designing an assembly, you’re now able to mate the holes together and set a distance from which the holes are allowed to deviate. Setting limits on hole deviation helps you design assemblies within specific parameters, without having to break mates between holes if they are misaligned by an acceptable amount. Implementing this new functionality into your designs ensures your CAD model will be even closer to your real-world intentions.

How do I activate SOLIDWORKS 2018?

How you activate SOLIDWORKS 2018 will depend on whether you have a standalone license or a network license. We’ve included instructions for both here. Before you get started, make sure you have uninterrupted internet access throughout the setup process.

Activate your SOLIDWORKS 2018 standalone license:

1. Start SOLIDWORKS and add-on required (i.e., Simulation).
2. The product activation dialog box should appear if you haven’t activated SOLIDWORKS 2018 yet.
3. We recommend choosing the automatic setup option, or you can select the manual option.
4. Enter your valid email address to receive the activation by email (you can also get the activation online).
• If you chose automatic setup, simply submit the request automatically via your internet connection.
• If you chose manual setup, click save to create a file. Then send the file to activation@solidworks.com from another computer. You should receive the response file within minutes of the initial submission. Copy to the client machine and run the activation procedure again. Click open to load the response file.
5. You can see which products have been activated via the activation/reactivate succeeded dialog box.

How to activate a network license:

1. To get started, you must install the SolidNetWork License Manager on your server.
2. Via the installation manager, click server products and then install SolidNetwork License Manager. When the License Manager is installing, you will need to enter a SOLIDWORKS Network Serial Number. You can find this number on all client machines, and you can enter more than one serial number by adding commas between licenses.
3. You can also use SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager to update an existing SolidNetWork License Manager. This way, you can avoid removing the previous version before installing the new one.
4. When the installation is finished, launch the SolidNetWork License Manager from the start menu in the SOLIDWORKS tools folder.
5. You will be asked: “Would you like to activate now?” Select yes.
6. We recommend that you choose the automatic setup option, but manual setup is also available.
7. Enter your valid email address to receive the activation by email (you can also get the activation online).
• If you chose automatic setup, you can submit the request automatically via the internet.
• If you chose manual setup, click save to create a file. Then send the file to activation@solidworks.com from another computer that has internet access. You should receive the response file within a few minutes of the submission. Copy to the client machine and run the activation procedure again. Click open to load the response file.
8. Check your activation/reactivate succeeded dialog box to double check which products have been activated.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 release date

SOLIDWORKS 2018 officially launched Sept. 26, 2017 at the new 3DExperience FABLAB at SOLDIWORKS’ U.S. headquarters. Check out their short video that gives an overview of this new release.