Updated! How to Submit a SOLIDWORKS Enhancement Idea

Do you have a great idea that could make SOLIDWORKS better for everyone? Good news! There is a way to tell SOLIDWORKS your idea. 

SOLIDWORKS has moved the customer Enhancement Ideas (formerly called Enhancement Requests) to the 3DEXPERIENCE Enhancement Ideas Community. The new Submission Form is now the only way to submit an idea to improve SOLIDWORKS products. Once submitted, Ideas are immediately available to be voted on by the community. Voting helps determine priority for implementation, so remember to vote when you find features or process changes you want to see in the future!

This new platform also helps improve user experience, making it easier to find what you need. Use these communities to search for Q&A articles, discussions about issues, and other information. By introducing tags, we can now search more thoroughly by a variety of provided keywords to narrow our search. We can use ‘User’ tags to find topics in various areas such as Composer, Graphics, and Simulation. Additionally, ‘Author’ tags can be used to find anything written by a particular individual.

Prepare your Browser

It is highly recommended to use Google Chrome when submitting Ideas.

You can apply a similar setting as the next bullet on Firefox and use that if necessary. However, you may experience some issues.

To ensure the submission form works on Chrome, you’ll need to add a setting to your browser.

1. Open Settings in your browser.
   
   
   
   
2. On the next page, select Privacy and Security in the list to the left.
   
   
   
   
3. Choose Cookies and other site data from the list that appears.
   
   
   
   
4. A new dialog will appear. Scroll down to find Sites that can always use cookies and click Add.
   
   
   
   
5. Enter the following link into the Site field and accept the action.
1. r1132100503382-eu1-3dswym.3dexperience.3ds.com
   
   
   

If you are on iOS, you may have some trouble with the submission form. Chrome for iOS is just a skin for the Safari tools powering it, so it may not behave as expected.

How to Search in the Community

Before submitting an Idea, ensure that it hasn’t already been submitted.

One way is to search keywords in the search bar at the top center of the screen. If you hit enter, the next page will show all the results available that use that keyword. In this case, there are over 10,000 results.

Another way allows us to narrow results down with those new Tags.

1. Click the Tag icon next to the Search Bar in the top center of the screen.
   
   
   
   
2. A new panel will open along the left side of the screen. In this panel, narrow a search by Ideas or other types of posts in the community.
   
   
   
   
3. You can expand the Who, What, Where, etc., to show tags available to choose from.
   
   
   

How to Submit an Enhancement Idea

If your search comes up empty, you can now submit an Idea! The Submission Form is very simple - fill in each field with the required information. When choosing a Product Area, one or two more fields will appear - those will also need to be filled in.

You can also add images and SOLIDWORKS part files that help to explain an idea. Once you select Submit, you’ll be redirected to the new page for your Idea. The progress bar along the top tracks how close the idea is to implementation, and you can see any tags applied to the article.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in May 2022 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

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