Frequently Asked Questions

eDrawings software is a product design communication tool for sharing representations of both 2D drawings and 3D models. The electronic data format of eDrawings files is highly compressed to enable easy transmission via email. When viewed with the eDrawings Viewer, these files provide intelligent interpretation tools (3D Pointer, Virtual Folding, Animated Drawing Views) that help the recipient easily understand and navigate the data they receive. eDrawings files are created through the use of the eDrawings Publisher add-in, which works as a plug-in to many popular CAD products. Once created, an eDrawings file may be sent to anyone via email. To eliminate the frustrations normally associated with 2D and 3D design data, the viewer may be embedded directly in an eDrawings file. These files can immediately be viewed by anyone with a Windows operating system. No additional CAD software or viewers are required.

You can create eDrawings files from the following applications using the appropriate eDrawings Publisher application:

• SOLIDWORKS 2005 or later
• AutoCAD version R14.x, AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD 2002, or AutoCAD 2004
• Pro/ENGINEER® 2001, Pro/ENGINEER® WildFire 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0
• CATIA V5 R14, R15, R16, R17, R18 & CATIA V5 R19
• Unigraphics: NX3, NX4, NX5, NX6 and NX7
• Autodesk Inventor 8, 9, 10, 11, 2008, 2009 and 2010
• Solid Edge® V17, V18, V19, V20, ST and ST2
• RapidFire Lite (View/Publish IGES, STEP & STL files)
• Sketchup (Free/ Professional) 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0

eDrawings Viewer is a free product. The advanced collaboration capabilities of eDrawings Professional are available at additional cost.

To purchase eDrawings Professional please contact the SOLIDWORKS office nearest you, or call 800-693-9000 toll-free for more information. Outside the U.S. and Canada, please call +1-781-810-5011.

eDrawings for iOS and Android can be purchased from the App Store or Google Play store. Pricing may vary by region.

You can find more more on eDrawings API here.

You can purchase and install eDrawings for Android from the Google Play App Store here.

Yes, you can upgrade to eDrawings Pro by making an in-app purchase.

1. Launch eDrawings for Android.
2. Press the Menu icon (three dots).
3. Select Upgrade to Pro.

Please refer to the instructions on the Google Play store here.

You can open eDrawings files (*.eprt, *.easm, *.edrw), SOLIDWORKS files (*.sldprt, *.sldasm, *.slddrw) files and DXF/DWG files in eDrawings for Android.

You can open files attached to emails by following these steps:

1. Open the email in your email App.
2. Tap on the file attachment.
3. The file will open in eDrawings, and be added to the My Files area.

Note: files cannot be opened from within .zip files.

You can email a marker to yourself from within the eDrawings App by following these steps:

1. Tap on the AR icon.
2. Tap Get Marker.
3. Tap Email and print this marker.

You can purchase and install eDrawings for iOS from the App Store here. eDrawings Pro can be purchased here.

This is not currently possible.

Apple® does not allow developers to process refunds directly. To start a refund request, please find the original email receipt when the app was purchased or find the purchase history in iTunes and click on the ‘Report a problem’ link.

You can open eDrawings files (*.eprt, *.easm, *.edrw), SOLIDWORKS files (*.sldprt, *.sldasm, *.slddrw) files, DXF, DWG, IGES, JT, STEP, IFC files in eDrawings for iOS.

When you attempt to use Augmented Reality for the first time, you will be prompted to allow eDrawings to access the camera on your device. If you mistakenly select 'No', Augmented Reality will not be allowed to use the camera, hence it will not work. To enable the camera later:

1. Go to Settings of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Select the eDrawings or eDrawings Pro application.
3. Allow eDrawings to access the camera.

When you attempt to use Augmented Reality for the first time, you will be prompted to allow eDrawings to access the camera on your device. If you mistakenly select 'No', Augmented Reality will not be allowed to use the camera, hence it will not work. To enable the camera later:

1. Go to Settings of your iPhone or iPad.
2. Select the eDrawings or eDrawings Pro application.
3. Allow eDrawings to access the camera.

You can report problems on the Report a Problem page. Please try to include a detailed description of the problem.

You can download eDrawings Viewer for Mac here.

eDrawings Professional is not available for Mac.

You can open the following file types:

• SOLIDWORKS native files (.sldprt, .slddrw, .sldasm)
• eDrawings native files (.edrw, .eprt, .easm)
• DXF/DWG files (.dxf, .dwg)

No, executable and .html eDrawings files can only be opened on Windows PCs since the file contains an embedded version of the eDrawings Viewer application.

You can download eDrawings Viewer for Windows here.

Chinese (traditional), Chinese (simplified), Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese-Brazilian, Russian and Spanish

eDrawings 2015 Special Edition (SE) is available, as a one-time release, for 32-bit versions of Windows. You can download this version of eDrawings from the 'FREE CAD TOOLS' section on the SOLIDWORKS downloads page. This special eDrawings version is the last version which runs on 32-bit operating system. eDrawings 2016 or newer will work only on a 64 bit operating system.

You can open the following file types:

• SOLIDWORKS native files and templates (.sldprt, .slddrw, .sldasm, .prtdot, .drwdot and .asmdot)
• eDrawings native files (.edrw, .eprt, .easm, .edrwx, .eprtx, .easmx)
• DXF/DWG files (.dxf, .dwg)
• ProEngineer files (.prt, .prt., .xpr, .asm, .xas)
• 3DXML files (.3dxml)
• STL Files (.stl)
• CALS Files (.cal, .ct1)

You can enable stereoscopic 3D views by following these steps:

1. Ensure your NVIDIA 3D Vision or 3D Vision Pro, Glasses and emitter are installed, and the NVIDIA Control Panel is showing that stereoscopic 3D is enabled.
2. Start the eDrawings application.
3. Select Tools > Options.
4. In the Options dialog box window, under Performance, enable Graphics boost.
5. Enable 3D Stereo Viewing.
6. Click OK.
7. Open a model in eDrawings, and click Perspective on the top nav. bar to turn on 3D viewing. Put on your glasses, and watch your SOLIDWORKS designs come to life!

Requirements: eDrawings version 2013 or later, NVIDIA Quadro Professional graphics card.

No, you don't need to install any other software alongside eDrawings Viewer.

If you send a review-enabled eDrawings file in either executable (.exe), masked executable (.ex) or HTML (.htm) format, the recipient is not required to install eDrawings Viewer to mark up a review-enabled eDrawings file.

You can report problems on the Report a Problem page. Please try to include a detailed description of the problem.

eDrawings for iOS and Android now includes Augmented Reality (AR). This allows users to view their SOLIDWORKS (or 3D design from many other CAD products) CAD designs in the real world. They simply activate the device’s camera and moments later, on the device’s screen, they can see their virtual design sitting on their desk or conference room table. This is a dynamic experience where the user can use their mobile device as a portal to view their model in their current environment and move around the room to see it from any perspective.

This product is for anyone involved in any stage of product design. Once a 3D model of a design is started, anyone in the process can view the model in the real world using their iOS or Android device and eDrawings. People who can use include:

• Product designers
• Engineers
• Product Managers
• Industrial designers
• Design detailers
• Manufacturing
• Sales
• Marketing
• And others

Design communication is a very important part of the product development process. There is a great deal of information, much of it very complex, which is constantly communicated throughout the process. Team members have varying levels of expertise, and can in turn, interpret information differently. Design communication challenges increase mistakes, along with development time and costs.

CAD has continually evolved to make designs easier to understand for everyone involved. 3D CAD makes a design more tangible, and easier to understand, than antiquated 2D blueprints. Now, AR continues this trend by being more tangible than just a 3D model viewed on a computer screen.

By seeing a design at full scale in the real world, we eliminate the opportunity to misinterpret a design’s size and scale. This is a common problem, even when working with 3D design tools.

The sooner everyone truly understands the design, the more confidently the design can progress with few mistakes, which means creating a better design faster.

Sales people can show off their products to prospects in a new and compelling way without having to travel with real physical products. And by using a tablet with eDrawings, the sales person can put their entire product line right on the customer’s conference table.

Yes, there is value to AR beyond the initial “wow”. There is no denying that AR is a new and exciting technology in the design space, but its value-add goes further.

Many people involved in product design, including the person that does the design in 3D CAD, are surprised by the size and form of new designs when they see the first physical manifestation. This is a problem for any product, but especially for consumer products. AR provides that first real-world experience much sooner in the design process, thereby eliminating these undesirable (and costly) surprises later in the process.

eDrawings with AR has been specifically designed to make it effortless for 3D CAD users to get their 3D designs into augmented reality. Simply open the published file in eDrawings, and it is automatically rendered in the real-world at full scale for an accurate experience. There are no special settings that must be tweaked repeatedly to get a desired view. Just open and view.

When a model is too big or too small, the scale functionality can be used to change the size of the model.

In the case of a model that is too large, if you want to keep 1:1 scale, the resolution of the camera may not be able to see the marker clearly enough. To get around this, try scaling up the size of the marker when you print it, and simply remember to scale the model down by the same amount to maintain 1:1 scale

YES! Use the share button at the top of the page to share and save pictures without the toolbars in the way. Try using the freeze-frame function to freeze the screen and make small changes before selecting saving the image.

• Annotation (notes and symbols) of the AR image
• Cross-section – use your iOS or Android device to dynamically cut into the design to see inside
• Freeze background – have a prolonged AR experience without having to hold up your device the entire time.