How I Built a Custom Automation Tool to Simplify Property Management in SolidWorks

SolidWorks Custom Property Manager by Ramu Gopal

In every mechanical design team I’ve worked with, one recurring challenge stands out: managing custom properties across dozens — or sometimes hundreds — of models.

If you’ve ever had to update materials, descriptions, vendor data, revisions, or manufacturing attributes inside multiple SLDPRT/SLDASM files, you already know the pain:

• Opening each file one by one
• Editing properties manually
• Saving & closing
• Repeating across a large assembly

Small changes start consuming entire afternoons. Large changes spill into days.

I always felt there had to be a better way.

So I built one.

Today, I want to share a look into a personal R&D project that has genuinely changed the way I work with CAD data:

🚀 The SolidWorks Custom Properties Batch Manager

A lightweight automation tool designed to export, edit, and re-import model properties in bulk — all through a clean, simple UI.

Not a macro. Not a single-file script. A structured engineering tool with proper workflow, progress tracking, and diagnostic logs.

Here’s the full story behind it.

🧩 Why I Built This Tool

In real engineering workflows, custom properties drive everything:

• Drawings and title blocks
• Manufacturing BOM
• ERP integration
• Material/Finish records
• Revision control
• Vendor data
• Model classification

When this data is inconsistent, teams struggle with:

• Wrong BOM outputs
• Mismatched material info
• Incorrect revisions
• Change-order delays
• Rework in manufacturing

Most importantly, manual property edits don’t scale.

If you’re handling:

• A product refresh
• A file cleanup cycle
• Legacy to new-standard migration
• New product introduction
• ECO implementation

…then manual editing becomes a bottleneck.

I wanted a solution that could:

• Scan a folder
• Collect all custom properties
• Export them cleanly
• Let me edit in CSV/Excel
• Write them back safely
• Track what changed
• Run without human error

That became the foundation of this project.

🛠️ What the Tool Actually Does

1️⃣ Auto-detects all SolidWorks files in a folder

You select a directory — the tool automatically reads:

• Parts (SLDPRT)
• Assemblies (SLDASM)

It displays:

• File Name
• Type
• Full Path
• Status

Now you see exactly what will be processed.

2️⃣ Batch Export: Models ➝ CSV

A single click exports custom properties for every selected file.

You get:

• A structured CSV
• One row per file
• All editable properties in clean columns
• An auto-generated log file
• Clear progress updates

The advantage?

You can edit everything in one place — Excel.

3️⃣ Batch Import: CSV ➝ Models

Once the properties are updated in Excel:

• Press Import
• The tool updates each file
• Invalid fields are skipped safely
• Only mapped columns are written
• A progress bar guides the entire run
• A completion log gives full transparency

This is extremely useful for:

• ECO updates
• Description/Finish standardization
• Vendor field updates
• Mass metadata corrections
• New model property syncing

4️⃣ Property Transfer & Version Migration (Very Helpful)

One unexpected bonus of this workflow is:

You can use the CSV to transfer properties across different file versions or newly created models.

Example use cases:

• Copying metadata from legacy parts to new models
• Applying new naming/numbering conventions
• Updating a family of components uniformly
• Syncing redesign files with old metadata

This “migration” capability became more useful than I initially imagined.

5️⃣ Built-In Logging & Diagnostics

Every run generates a timestamped log containing:

• File processed
• Operation type
• Property changes
• Success/failure state
• Error explanation (if any)

Logs help engineers diagnose:

• Missing configurations
• Read-only files
• Invalid property names
• Locked references

Automation without transparency is risky — so logging was a non-negotiable part of the design.

🎨 A Simple and Practical UI for Engineers

I designed the UI with non-programmers in mind.

The layout includes:

• Folder selectors
• File preview grid
• Checkbox selections
• Progress bar
• Status messages
• Reset/Import/Export buttons
• Elapsed time indicator

No clutter. No complex settings. Just what an engineer needs.

📈 How This Changed My Workflow

This tool helped me:

• Update hundreds of files at once
• Maintain consistency across large assemblies
• Reduce errors caused by manual editing
• Speed up change-order cycles
• Standardize metadata during cleanup
• Transfer properties to new file versions
• Improve release readiness

Even small automation tools, when used daily, become powerful.

This one has saved me hours — sometimes even days — depending on the job.

🌐 Future Possibilities

Because the architecture is modular, it can grow into:

• A PDM-connected property tool
• A PLM-integrated metadata updater
• A multi-configuration property processor
• A template-based property rule enforcer
• A mass renaming and classification engine
• A BOM synchronization assistant

Folder-based automation is just the beginning.

💬 Closing Thoughts

I built this tool out of curiosity — to solve a problem that every design engineer has faced at some point.

Sometimes the most impactful engineering solutions are not large systems, but purpose-built utilities that remove repetitive work and allow teams to focus on real design.

If you’re exploring SolidWorks automation, custom tools, or workflow optimization, I’m always open to discuss ideas and share experiences.

Automation is not just about saving time — it’s about elevating the role of engineering itself.

See the post in Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7432847743855017984