Last month I published a LinkedIn article "Bulk processing for SolidWorks files is free!" and after a while I got a question:
How much time do you actually save with this tool?
Well to be honest I did not have a clear answer back then, but I decided to make a test and record it as a video. This way I will have actual proof and I can share the video with anyone interested.
I see so many SolidWorks users that are still performing "Save As" actions by hand when they have to generate large amounts of manufacturing documentation (PDF, DXF, STEP) at the end of a project....If you are one of them, please STOP!...and check out my video I made especially for you.
In the video you will see a fast-forward recording of me manually performing "Save as PDF" and another fast-forward recording of #Task performing the same task, but much faster :).
I also have to point out that the difference between the manual and automatic way gets bigger with each additional file you have to convert. Why?...Because people make mistakes...and more files mean more potential mistakes. If you find out you made a mistake, you will have to correct it eventually and all of this adds up to your time.
In the end it doesn't matter what kind of bulk processing tool you use, as long as you use one. In our company we use #Task because this tool is (was) FREE and it's very user friendly!
If you have any comments or questions about this topic, feel free to write them down in the comment section below.
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Update: Since begining of May 2020, #Task is not free anymore.
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Comments 5
Great minds think alike!
https://www.engineersrule.com/task-best-macro-batch-processor-solidworks/
Author
Thanks Alin, I will share this article on LI also :). It’s very well written.
Hi Barbara,
I stumbled upon this as I’m currently looking for a way to export SW files to various formats while appending the revision number from a custom property to the newly exported file name. It looks like #Task will do this? Great news! Too bad it’s not free anymore. Being self-employed it feels a bit harder to spend money on more tools but the I’m sure the time savings would make it worthwhile.
I really appreciate your perspective on various other topics you’ve posted. It sounds down to earth and easy to understand.
Author
Hi Ivan,
Thank you for your comment.
Yes, #task is not free anymore…but there is a free alternative 🙂 ….https://cadplus.xarial.com/
I did not test it yet, because we use #Task, but people say it’s quite good.
If you will have any questions about how to use this tool, you can ask the guy that build it https://www.linkedin.com/in/artem-taturevych/
That’s good to know, thank you!
I know of Artem, we’re both part of the SOLIDWORKS Champions program and we’re also having him and Alin present at a user group meeting soon. It’s great to be part of such a knowledgeable community and see these connections all over the interwebz 🙂