Document Groups: A Whole New Way to Manage Your SOLIDWORKS Files

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SOLIDWORKS 2025 has introduced a new feature called Document Groups, opening a world of possibilities on how to leverage this new tool.

I work as a mechanical engineer and as a designer. Most companies try to re-use the same inventory and parts if they can. You can use Document Groups to help you organize your SOLIDWORKS files into categories to help you locate the parts you need for new designs and assemblies. This will allow you to leverage your existing inventory, lower your costs, improve your company’s profitability and even help with scheduling as you will be able to use stock on hand to build assemblies instead of ordering in new parts.

The idea is that instead of spending time locating and opening files one at a time, you can organize your files into a group that opens all the files simultaneously.

Document Groups are only limited by your imagination, but I would like to give you some ideas of different possibilities.

Document Groups can contain drawings, parts and/or assembly files. You can create a documentation package or an assembly package.

There are some rules for creating document groups. To be added to a Document Group, the file needs to be opened in SOLIDWORKS. If the file has been edited, it needs to be saved before it can be added to the document group.

You can add files to an existing Document Group, but there is no way to remove files from a Document Group. I expect future releases of SOLIDWORKS will provide more functionality.  It would be nice if you could drag and drop from File Explorer into the Document Group definition, but that ability isn’t there yet.

This is a front panel I designed for a defense company a while back.

It would be nice to be able to easily locate those dust covers for future designs. I want to create a document group for the dust covers.

Typing the word ‘dust’ in the browser shows a list of all the dust caps.

My window displays an isolated view of just the dust caps.

Right click on one of the dust covers and select the Open icon on the short cut menu.

Next, go to the SOLIDWORKS menu.

Select Window  > Create Document Group.

Name the group Dust Covers and select the dust cover file, then click Create.

You’ll notice that only open files can be added to the document group. To access your Document Groups, you have to see your Recent Files.

Click on the Home icon on your QAT (Quick Access Toolbar). Your Document Groups are listed in the lower left panel.

To add additional parts to the Document Group, open more of the dust cover parts, and then go to Window > Create Document Group.

Select the existing Document Group. You will be asked if you want to redefine it. Then select the files you want to include in the group, and click Create.

If you open the Document Group, then all the dust cover files will be opened and available.

This means instead of having to spend hours searching for the correct dust cover, you can quickly figure out which dust cover you can use in your assembly and move forward with your design.

Note that there is a pin available next to the Document Group name, so you can fix your favorite SOLIDWORKS files into place.

I tend to use the same parts over and over for many of my designs, so I plan to create Document Group “kits” for different designs.  Think of Document Groups like one of those pre-packaged meal kits. You can gather all the basic parts you normally need for a design and go from there.

To create my 2U Chassis Kit, I open the files for a power supply, a storage drive, a 2U chassis, a fan and panels.

This creates a starting point for a basic rackmount system.

The next document group is the label parts used for packaging.

When I go to the Home page, I can see the list of my Document Groups and can easily access the parts I need for my work process without having to search through my files.

If you no longer want to use a Document Group, simply right click on it and select Remove.

Note: This does not delete the files – just the group definition.

My usual workflow is to start a new assembly file, open a Document Group and then start inserting the files from the document group to start building up my assembly.  Having document groups at the ready cuts down the amount of time I spend searching for the same standard parts.  Document Groups keep the files I use most often at my fingertips, easily accessible and manageable.

Elise Moss

Elise Moss

Elise Moss has worked for the past thirty years as a mechanical designer in Silicon Valley, primarily creating sheet metal designs. She has written articles for Autodesk’s Toplines magazine, AUGI’s PaperSpace, engineersrule.com, DigitalCAD.com and Tenlinks.com. She is President of Moss Designs, creating custom applications and designs for corporate clients. She has taught CAD classes at DeAnza College, Silicon Valley College and for Autodesk resellers. She teaches CAD at Laney College in Oakland and Santa Clara University in Santa Clara. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State University.