Why does SOLIDWORKS install 32 bit and 64 bit Edrawings?

Have you noticed that there are 2 versions of eDrawings installed for every 64 bit installation of SOLIDWORKS?  Why do both versions of eDrawings get installed?  Do I really need both versions?

The real issue here is that SOLIDWORKS explorer is a 32 bit process. SOLIDWORKS eDrawings is used in solidworks explorer to generate previews of your models and drawings.  64 bit applications cannot be embedded into a 32 bit application, therefore both applications are installed.

Another difference between the versions is that the EXE option has been removed from the 64 bit version of eDrawings.  The technical reasons for this include: 1. If this functionality was enabled, the resulting EXE would only run on another 64 bit system. 2. To avoid the problem described in point 1, it would be necessary to include the 32-bit installation of eDrawings in the 64-bit version. This would double the download and installation size for all users of the 64-bit version, and result in two edrawings installations on the computer. The solution for this is to install the 32 bit version of e Drawings on specific machines where the save as EXE functionality is required. The resulting EXE files can be run on both 32 bit and 64 bit systems.

Now you know!