Design Branching and Merging

SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional has improved handling of various design change scenarios including multiple design improvement approaches, engineering change requests, and working with external design consultants.

Branching an existing file structure is similar to Copy Tree, but SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional maintains the history of source files and branched files. You can create new versions of the source files from the modified versions of branched files regardless of whether they have been moved or renamed.

History of branched file
History of source file

Branching functionality lets you create complete or partial copies of a file structure with different names and place them in one or more folders. Placing the files into multiple folders lets you edit the branched files, retaining the source files in their original state and permission status. If the edits are approved, you can create new versions of the source files. Otherwise, you can delete the branched files.