Improved Performance When Opening and Saving Files from a Previous Version

In SOLIDWORKS 2020, most assemblies and drawings that were saved in a previous version open faster without having to save them in the new version. The improvement is greater for assemblies that use reference components in several configurations. Also, you can make greater use of lightweight components and drawings without needing to convert them to the current version.

Previously, assemblies and drawings with reference components in multiple configurations required full rebuilds of each referenced configuration when opened in a new version. SOLIDWORKS 2020 removes this restriction.

You can improve save performance by clearing the Force referenced documents to save to current version system option in the External References tab. When you clear the option, only documents that have been modified in the current session are saved to the current version of SOLIDWORKS. This reduces save times significantly on the first save of large assemblies and drawings.

For example:
  1. Click Tools > Options and in System Options, click External References.
  2. Clear Force referenced documents to save to current version is clear.
  3. In SOLIDWORKS 2020, open a SOLIDWORKS 2019 assembly with SOLIDWORKS 2019 parts.
  4. Add a mate in the top-level assembly.
  5. Click File > Save.

The top level assembly is saved because you modified it by adding a mate. However, because you did not enable the system option, the parts that have been saved with SOLIDWORKS 2019 are not converted to SOLIDWORKS 2020.