SOLIDWORKS Missing Description Dialog Box

We often get questions regarding how to fix the description field when it is missing from the SOLIDWORKS Save As and Open dialog box. This article will provide two options to resolve the SOLIDWORKS missing description dialog box issue. 

1. Enable the Details Pane

To enable the detail pane you will want to go to the File menu inside of SOLIDWORKS and select Open. In the Open dialog box, verify that the Details Pane is checked under the Organize tab > Layout. For some, this is all it takes to have the Description field be visible again, but for others, this is only part of the solution.

2. Register the sldpropertyhandler.dll

One of the main reasons that the Description field is missing is because the sldpropertyhandler.dll was not properly registered on the computer. Before we can register the DLL we need to search and locate the file on the computer. To search to find the DLL you can open Explorer and search your local hard drive for the sldpropertyhandler.dll. The default location is C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS Corp\SOLIDWORKS. Once you find the file location take note of the file path.

To avoid any permission issues we recommend running the command prompt as the administrator. To open a command prompt, start by going to the Start menu and then search for cmd.

Right-click on cmd.exe and run as administrator.

With the command prompt open, type in the following based on your SOLIDWORKS installation folder location that we searched for earlier:

regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks\sldpropertyhandler.dll" Make sure you include the quotes (“)

Verify the path is correct, and then hit Enter.

Make sure the registration message says it was successful. If not please contact GoEngineer Technical Support.

If the registration was successful, open SOLIDWORKS and verify the issue has been resolved.

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