I just updated the version of SolidWorks I’m running to SW 2026 (from SW 2024). Much to my chagrin, I discovered that PreForm doesn’t currently support drag-and drop import of SW 2026 part files. I had been running SW 2024 and it worked great. In SW 2026, I tried saving my files as SW 2025 format and sure enough, PreForm can currently import that format. So the problem appears to be specific to the 2026 .SLDPRT file format.
Problem is, every time I bring a SW 2025 SLDPRT into an assembly (SLDASM), I either have to save the assy as a 2025 version, or if I just hit SAVE, all the parts automatically become SW 2026 format. And once a given file is in SW 2026, you can’t then save it as a SW 2025 file - unless you give it a different name.
So, that’s what I’m doing. And my library of SLDPRT files is rapidly expanding by a factor of two, due to this. FILE BLOAT! CONFUSION! CHAOS!!
Drag-and-drop importing of SW files trims my workflow by a significant amount. I make a design tweak, toss the new version into PreForm, and I have a Fuse 1-printed prototype part in short order. Voila: no muss, no fuss – no STL files or 3MF files cluttering my file archives. I dearly want to have this feature work for SW 2026 files! (so much so that I’m beginning to regret that I upgraded to 2026 rather than 2025!)
I’m running PreForm 3.62.1.648 - truly the most recent version. Is there either:
a) An earlier PreForm release that DOES support SW 2026 *.SLDPRT drag-and-drop (I’d be surprised)?
b) A timeframe for when PreForm will catch up with the SW 2026 file format and include this really handy feature?
I do wonder: there surely must be a boatload of people who have run into this. So… apologies if this is re-treading ground already covered elsewhere in this forum! Thanks.