SOLIDWORKS Composer 2023 - Top Enhancements

SOLIDWORKS Composer is the easiest, fastest, and most robust way to create your technical documentation. There are a couple of updates in the 2023 release that will have every Composer user eager to use SOLIDWORKS Composer 2023.  If you’d prefer, you can also get this content in video format:

SOLIDWORKS Composer 2023 Web Help

First, the help documentation received a MASSIVE upgrade. In prior releases, you could access Composer’s help documentation via a locally installed htm file. To access the help file, you use Internet Explorer and Java 8. Alternatively, load an Internet Explorer extension in modern browsers like Chrome. For already frustrated users consulting the help file, this htm file limitation was enough to send them right over the edge.

Legacy SOLIDWORKS Composer Help: Local file requiring Internet Explorer and Java 8

Now in SOLIDWORKS Composer 2023, the default selection is ‘Use Web Help’. When users select ‘Help Topics’ it launches directly to an online version of the SOLIDWORKS Composer help file. You don’t need legacy browsers or unnecessary browser extensions anymore!

SOLIDWORKS Composer New Online Help

This simple upgrade is a powerful enhancement to increase user productivity. Many users frustrated using the old local file limitations can now get the answers they need. As a pro-tip for users of SOLIDWORKS Composer 2020 through 2022, the links below give you access to an online version of the help file.

2020 Online Help for SOLIDWORKS Composer

2021 Online Help for SOLIDWORKS Composer

2022 Online Help for SOLIDWORKS Composer

SOLIDWORKS Composer 2023 View Collections

SOLIDWORKS Composer 2023 also sees a powerful new way to organize your views with Collections. In prior releases, organizing views was a bit of a challenge. You could rename and reorder views in the view pane with a simple drag and drop. But many times when opening a Composer file after an extended period of time or working with other users, it wasn’t clear what views belong with one another. This often led to users developing unique view naming and organization strategies that weren’t always intuitive.

Unconventional View Naming Strategies

In SOLIDWORKS Composer 2023, those confusing and tedious practices are a thing of the past thanks to Collections. Collections are custom groupings of views that streamline users’ workflows, better combining multiple views together in the view pane. Simply select the views that belong together, right-mouse-button on the View pane, and select “Add Collection”. You can reorder, rename, or delete Collections altogether. With a simple drag-and-drop, you can move views from one collection to another.

New View Collections

This new workflow for organizing your views simplifies and accelerates your technical documentation process.

Wrap-Up

Whether it’s finally using the help file now with Online Help or leveraging powerful new View Collections, SOLIDWORKS Composer continues to raise the bar as the best tool for creating your technical documentation with SOLIDWORKS Composer 2023.

I hope this part of the What’s New series gives you a better understanding of the new features and functions of SOLIDWORKS 2023. Please check back to the CATI Blog as the CATI Application Engineers will continue to break down many of the new items in SOLIDWORKS 2023. All these articles will be stored in the category of “SOLIDWORKS What’s New.”

Brandon Nelms
Application Engineer Manager
Computer Aided Technology

What is Design Innovation Month?

DESIGN INNOVATION MONTH 2022 – Live Events, Webinars, Virtual Showroom, Contests

Design Innovation Month is CATI’s “What’s New in 2023” event for SOLIDWORKS, 3DEXPERIENCE, and 3D Printing & 3D Scanning technology. This year we’re going back to the future to bring you in-person events, live and on-demand webinars, demonstrations, in-depth blog posts, and prizes! Best of all, it’s free of charge! Check the DI Month Hub for all the details and to sign up for your nearest live event.