Seriously, this feature needs to be turned off.
In lieu of that, here’s some ways that can often times help you get around that wonderfully obscure message.
First of all, I have no idea what causes that message to come up. Maybe one of you SolidWorks wizzes do. From the details of the message, it’s more likely a catch all if something doesn’t go right. Whatever it is, it’s about as fun as your puppy dying, because inevitably you’ve lost countless hours of work. These are the 5 things I’ve found to get past it… sometimes.
- Close all non-essential documents
Shut’em down. It may just be that there’s too much memory being used and something clogging the tube. Shut down everything that is not being worked on. Try saving. If it doesn’t work, on to the next step. - Save the Drawing
I’ve narrowed this down to something not rebuilding correctly. If you’re working in the drawing and model at the same time and getting the error on the model, try switching to the drawing shutting it down and saving. You may get a “Would you like to Rebuild?” Hit yes and see if you get anywhere. - Switch to a different Configuration
Still not working? Try this. Just try switching to a different configuration, preferably one that hasn’t been loaded. In the same vein, you could try, supressing everything and then unsupressing. - Delete and Re-Create a Configuration
If the above doesn’t work I move on to more drastic measure. First, I’ll switch configurations, delete the one I was on and then hit undo to see if that wakes it up. Most often, this gets me result I need. If that doesn’t do it, Ill try deleting and recreating the configuration. - Find References, Copy Files
The final push before giving up and starting over. This is the magic tool that can save you from having to recreate a lot of models and drawings. Again, I think this works because something has not been rebuilt properly. You get to it through File, Find References.This will load everything, so on large items, this will give you a chance to go pour coffee down your gullet. After it loads everything, select Copy Files. In 2007 and up, this will bring up the Pack and Go interface. Sometimes, you’ll be notified that something needs rebuilt. That may be the item causing the problem. Make a note to check it out later.After you go through this exercise, try saving again and see if it works. This one alone has save me and my co-worker a lot of time.
If you’ve rent your clothes and absolutely can’t start over, the last effort is to send that bad boy into SolidWorks for interrogation and wait. Get a hold of your VAR that sold you SolidWorks and they’ll be able to provide an impressive set of questions and the proper assistance.
