Customizable Columns Dialog Box

You can use the Customizable Columns dialog box to customize the display of file data.

To display the dialog box:

  • For an existing column set, expand Columns and the column set type, and double-click the column set.
  • To create a new column set, do one of the following:

    Expand Columns, right-click the type of column to create, and click New Column Set.

    Or

    Right-click Columns and select New Column Set.

Columns Tab

Column set name The column set name.
Type You can define column sets of the following types:
Change State
Check in
Check out
Contains
File List
Get
Quick Search Result
Search Result
Undo Check out
Where Used
Sort Column Defines a default sort column and sort direction for each column set.
Preview Shows how the column set appears to users.
Localize system variables Localizes column names of system variables in the language that you have selected for user interface display.
Columns Lists columns that have been added.
Add

Adds a new column. Define column properties under Selected column.
Delete

Removes the selected column.
Reset

Restores columns to the default for the column set type.
Move to Top

Moves the column at the top in the Columns list, which moves it to the leftmost place in Preview.
Move Up

Moves the column up in the Columns list, which moves it to the left in Preview.
Move Down

Moves the column down in the Columns list, which moves it to the right in Preview.
Move to Bottom

Moves the column at the bottom in the Columns list, which moves it to the rightmost place in Preview.

Selected Column

Set these options for each column that you add.

Variable Select the file or folder card variable or system variable (enclosed in < >) whose value can be retrieved in the Windows File Explorer column.
The <Associated Item> and <Category> variables are available only in SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional.
<Associated Item>

Item that links to the file, if any. If the file is associated with multiple items, one item ID is displayed followed by “, ...”.

<Category>

Category of the file.
<Checked Out By>

If checked out, shows the user who has the file checked out.
<Checked Out In>

If checked out, shows the system and path where the file is checked out.
<Configuration>

The configuration of the file that matches the search criteria.

Available only for the Search Result and Quick Search Result type column sets.
<Date Modified>

Date file was most recently modified.
<Days In State>

Number of days the file has been in the current workflow state.

Available only for the File List, Search Result, and Quick Search Result type column sets.
<Found in Version>

Most recent file version the search criteria is found in.
 
<Found In>

Path in the vault where the file is found.
<ID>

Unique document ID assigned to each file in the vault. This ID can be useful when exporting BOMs to XML.
<Latest Version>

Latest version of the file.
<Name>

Name and extension of the file.
<Size>

Size of the file.
<State>

Current workflow state of the file.
<Type>

Registered file type of the file.
<Version Number>

Local version and the latest vaulted version of the file.
_SW_Last_Saved_With_

Last saved SOLIDWORKS version of the file.
<Last historic state>

The last state assigned to the cached version of the file.
<Last historic workflow>

The last workflow assigned to the cached version of the file.
<Revision (Latest version)>

The revision assigned to the latest version of the file.
<Revision (Local version)>

The revision assigned to the cached version of the file.
The historic and revision types of variables are available only for the File List, Search Result, and Quick Search Result type column sets.

Column Name

Name of the column that will appear in the file listing in reference dialog boxes. Defaults to the variable name but can be modified.

Alignment

Alignment of the column value (Left, Right, Center).

Width
Default width of the column. Users can change the width.
You can modify the default width by moving the column dividers in the Preview.

Configurations

Available only for File List column sets.

Select how configurations are searched to locate variables. For files without configurations, select Look for variables in given list of configurations, select Files without configurations, and then click to add this to the list.

Look for variable in all configurations

Displays the value of the first variable in any configuration.
Look for variable in given list of configurations

Displays the value of the first variable in a configuration in the list of specified configurations. The configuration list is searched from the top down.
Add configuration

Adds the selected configuration to the list.
Remove configuration

Removes the selected configuration from the list.
Move configuration upwards

Moves the selected configuration up in the list. When retrieving a variable value, configurations are searched based on the list order.
Move configuration downwards

Moves the selected configuration down in the list.

Permissions Tab

This tab is not available for Search Result type column sets.
View Assigns a column set to a user or group.
Preferred Assigns a column set as the preferred set for users or groups.
For each column set type:
  • When a user selects an admin-defined column set on a client, the defined visible columns, column order, and column size are saved in the registry on the client machine.
  • After a user has accessed the column set on a client machine, if the administrator adds a column, it is added at the rightmost position.
  • Modifications to column position and size in an existing column set are not updated for users who have already accessed the column set.