Creating a Conversion Task

You can create a task to convert files on your computer or create a distributed task to run on a group of computers.

You must have a SOLIDWORKS Professional, SOLIDWORKS Premium, or SOLIDWORKS Office license to create a distributed task.

Start Network Monitor before you create a distributed task to ensure that paths are set correctly.

For distributed tasks, all files must be in shared folders. See Folders for Distributed Tasks.

To create a conversion task:

  1. Click Convert Files on the sidebar, or click Tasks > Convert Files.
  2. In the Convert dialog box, type a title for the task or leave the default.
  3. Select the files or folders you want to convert:

    • To select files, click Add File, select the files, and click Open.

      You can select the types of files to update under Files of type. Repeat to select additional files.

    • To select folders, click Add Folder, select a folder, and click Open.

      You can select the types of files to update under Files of type. Repeat to select additional folders.

      If you do not want to include subfolders, clear Include subfolders.

    To delete a file or folder from the list, click its number or path, then click Delete.

  4. Under Task Schedule, set:
    1. Running mode.
      Specifies how often the task runs. Select Once, Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
    2. Start time.
    3. Start date.
  5. For distributed tasks:
    1. Click Network Monitor if it is not running.
    2. Select Distribute Task.
    3. Click Network Test (recommended) to verify group read and write access to files and folders.
  6. Click Options to change conversion options and backup locations.
  7. Click Advanced to change the working folder, time-out values, and other options.
  8. Click Finish.

The task and its title, scheduled time, scheduled date, and status appear in the Tasks panel. Distributed tasks that you and other users schedule appear in Network Monitor.

If the task acts on more than one file, a sub-task is generated for each file. If you selected Backup task files in Advanced Options, a backup copy of each file is saved to a .zip file. When the task completes, the status changes to Completed.
If your backup files include Unicode file paths, use a zip file extraction application that supports UTF-8 encoding.