How to use the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform

Finding the right components for your assemblies can be a time-consuming task. Designers often waste valuable hours searching for standard parts, verifying dimensions and ensuring compatibility. This is where the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, integrated with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, comes to the rescue.

The SOLIDWORKS Toolbox offers a vast library of standard parts like bolts, screws, washers, gears and more. It is designed to speed up your assembly process. When the Toolbox is connected to the cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform, you gain enhanced collaboration, seamless updates and access to parts data across global teams. This ensures that your designs are always up to date, precise and aligned with industry standards.

In this guide, we’ll walk through how to set up and use the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and highlight its key benefits along the way.

Challenges the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox solves

Before diving into the specifics of how to use the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, it’s important to understand why it exists and what problems it addresses.

1. Manual Part Sourcing: Engineers often spend a disproportionate amount of time searching for standard components, such as fasteners or structural supports. This can be automated. Manually selecting these parts from external databases or catalogs takes time and can also introduce errors when incorrect configurations are used.
2. Inconsistent Standards: When engineers source parts from various locations, there is a risk of inconsistency in quality or specification. In a worst-case scenario, this can lead to assembly failures or design iterations that delay the project timeline.
3. Lack of Collaboration: Without a unified platform, teams find it difficult to ensure members are working with the same set of parts. Files may get duplicated; parts might not be synchronized and communication bottlenecks arise. This slows down the workflow, especially in multi-team environments where designers collaborate across departments or locations.
4. Tedious Customization: Sometimes, parts need to be slightly altered to fit a specific design. In a manual process, each alteration requires time and effort, often resulting in a new custom part that is difficult to manage in future projects.

These challenges highlight the need for a more efficient system — one that can standardize part selection, ensure design integrity and foster collaboration. This is where the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox proves to be invaluable.

What is SOLIDWORKS Toolbox and what are its benefits?

The SOLIDWORKS Toolbox is an add-in component within SOLIDWORKS that provides an extensive library of standard parts compliant with international design standards including ISO, ANSI, DIN and more. It allows users to access, modify and configure these parts directly within their design environment. This reduces the time spent sourcing and adjusting components manually. Key Benefits of Using the Toolbox, include:

• Time-Savings: With an easily accessible parts library, engineers no longer need to browse through third-party catalogs. Standard parts can be dragged and dropped directly into assemblies.
• Customization: You can modify part dimensions and configurations to suit your specific needs while ensuring compliance with industry standards.
• Integration: The Toolbox integrates perfectly with SOLIDWORKS features like Hole Wizard, simplifying processes such as adding fasteners to assemblies.
• Standardization: By using a centralized library, companies can ensure consistency across all projects, reducing errors and outdated parts usage.
• Collaboration: When integrated with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, the Toolbox enables teams to share a centralized parts library across multiple projects and locations, promoting real-time collaboration and enhanced design integrity.

How to set up and use the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform

Now that we’ve defined what the Toolbox is and its benefits, let’s explore how to set it up and use it within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Step 1: Installing and Accessing the Toolbox

To get started with the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox, make sure the add-in is installed:

• Open SOLIDWORKS and navigate to Tools > Add-Ins.
• Ensure that SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Library is checked.
• Once activated, the Toolbox can be found under the Design Library tab in the task pane.

From here, you will have access to the various categories of parts, including fasteners, bearings, structural members and gears.

Add-Ins: SOLIDWORKS Toolbox Library (Image ChampionXperience.)

Step 2: Configuring the Toolbox

To make the Toolbox more efficient and tailored to your needs, it is important to configure its settings:

• Go to Tools > Options > System Options > Hole Wizard/Toolbox.
• Select the Toolbox root folder, which contains all the data required for your standard parts library.
• Customize the settings based on your specific design requirements, such as preferred part dimensions, units of measurement and design standards (ISO, ANSI, etc.).

System option: Toolbox folder path. (Image ChampionXperience.)

To ensure that model graphics for each Toolbox component size are generated and viewable on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, it is recommended to enable the following SOLIDWORKS option: System Options > Assemblies > Update model graphics when saving files.

Setting up model graphics. (Image ChampionXperience.)

Step 3: Connecting to the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform

When using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, you can store your Toolbox library in the cloud, making it accessible across your team and ensuring that everyone works with the same up-to-date parts. Here’s how to set up this connection:

• In SOLIDWORKS, open the task pane and log into your 3DEXPERIENCE account.
• Select the collaborative space where you want to store your Toolbox data.
• Once connected, all changes made to the Toolbox — such as new parts or configuration adjustments — will be synced across the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, making them instantly available to other users.

Task Pane: Collaborative Space selection. (Image ChampionXperience.)

Step 4: Using the Toolbox in your designs

The SOLIDWORKS Toolbox on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform functions very similarly to how it does on the SOLIDWORKS Desktop version. Steps include:

1. Drag and drop parts: Once your Toolbox is set up, using it within your designs is simple. Drag and drop the required components directly from the Toolbox library into your assembly. The parts automatically adjust to the correct size based on the design context, eliminating guesswork and ensuring a perfect fit.
2. Part customization: If your design requires specific changes to a part, the Toolbox allows for easy customization of dimensions and configurations. These customizations can be saved for future use, streamlining the design process even further.
3. Using Hole Wizard with Toolbox parts: One of the most powerful integrations of the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox is with the Hole Wizard. When placing fasteners or other components, the Hole Wizard helps to automatically insert parts to corresponding holes, ensuring that the assembly is geometrically sound.
4. Syncing across teams: By leveraging the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, your parts library remains centralized and up to date. Whether a team member updates a part or a configuration, these changes are automatically synchronized across all users. This not only reduces the risk of error but also ensures that everyone is working with the most accurate data.

Drag, drop and edit Toolbox parts. (Image ChampionXperience.)

How Toolbox integrates with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform

SOLIDWORKS Toolbox integration with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform ensures that when you add or open assemblies containing Toolbox components, the platform automatically manages these parts by generating them as individual files. These components are stored in a designated collaborative space, accessible to all team members — preventing duplication and ensuring real-time updates.

The integration supports seamless part retrieval, ensuring that everyone uses the most current versions, with the maturity state of each part set to either “In Work” or “Released” based on platform settings. This enhances collaboration and ensures consistency across projects.

Opening Toolbox components

You can utilize the 3DSearch feature in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to find Toolbox components. However, if you attempt to open or drag these components directly into an assembly or part, you’ll receive a notification advising you to use the Design Library task pane tab instead.

Additionally, when accessing an assembly that contains Toolbox components, these components will be downloaded to the specified local folder instead of your local work folder.

Opening Toolbox components in 3DEXPERIENCE. (Image: ChampionXperience.)

With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, all your data is saved to the cloud automatically, simplifying the process without requiring any extra steps from you. Toolbox integration is designed to be intuitive. When you drag and drop components into your assembly, it feels just like using SOLIDWORKS Desktop. You can select and configure fasteners as needed, and as soon as you place a Toolbox component into your assembly, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform automatically creates a part file and saves it to the designated collaborative space.

For example, when you insert a bolt into your assembly, the system instantly saves it to the cloud without you having to hit “save.” The component is also placed in a “Released” state, preventing any further modifications. This ensures that everyone on your platform has access to the same, standardized parts, enabling consistent collaboration and preventing unauthorized changes.

Synchronized part saving between Toolbox and 3DEXPERIENCE. (Image: ChampionXperience.)

Visualizing the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform

The integration of the Toolbox within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform enhances user interaction by providing a clear and intuitive visualization of design components. When users go to a collaborative space on the cloud and refresh, they see that all the Toolbox bolts have been added to the common space and saved as a physical product. The maturity state of the physical products created from the imported Toolbox parts is set to In Work or Released, based on the Toolbox settings deployed by the platform administrator.

Visualizing the SOILDWORKS Toolbox within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. (Image ChampionXperience.)

Bonus tip, users may not realize the importance of selecting the appropriate collaborative space and setting visibility. To address this, a message might prompt them, when attempting to save, saying: “Unable to save: You cannot save the toolbox component because you do not have access to the collaborative space.”

To resolve this issue, go to the Collaborative Space settings and choose Public, or contact your 3DEXPERIENCE Administrator for assistance. Ensuring proper access can help streamline your workflow.

Modify the visibility settings. (Image: ChampionXperience.)

Adjusting the visibility settings is crucial for effective collaboration. By selecting the appropriate visibility options, you can control who can view or edit the components within the collaborative space, thereby maintaining the integrity of your projects and facilitating smoother teamwork.

In conclusion, the integration of the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform simplifies how engineering teams manage standard parts. It offers a time-saving, efficient solution to part sourcing, customization and collaboration — all while ensuring that your designs remain compliant with industry standards.

By centralizing the parts library and allowing seamless access across global teams, the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox connected to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform improves design workflows, reduces errors and enhances overall product quality. As product development continues to evolve, having tools like the SOLIDWORKS Toolbox and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform will be key to maintaining a competitive edge in the industry.

About the Author

Hanen Bdioui is the Co-Founder of Champion Xperience and a dedicated advocate for Dassault Systèmes solutions. As a SOLIDWORKS Expert & Specialist and Instructor, she has gained recognition as a SOLIDWORKS Champion and the first 3DEXPERIENCE Edu Champion from Tunisia. Hanen’s exceptional projects have earned her invitations as a special guest to 3DEXPERIENCE World, where she actively contributed to the Edu booth at 3DXW24 in Dallas. Her expertise plays a crucial role in promoting technical excellence and driving innovation in the field.