Comments on: 5 Tricks To Tackle SolidWorks “Failed To Save Document”

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:33:24 +0000

@Bob, right on, that is the magic. I think I’m gonna turn that into a post, with your credit, to obsolete and supersede this one! Thanks!

@JB man, that sounds weird, although would be the first time hardware affected software, but I’ve never noticed optical mouse conflicts. Could possible be a conflict with mouse driver and SolidWorks??

By: mike

mike — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:26:56 +0000

hell yes Bob! that worked!

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:02:17 +0000

Our workaround for this aggravation is to cycle through and rebuild (cntl Q) EACH AND EVERY configuration. After doing this the file may be saved. We have experienced a 90+% success rate using this approach.

By: marijn

marijn — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:12:07 +0000

This error was driving me crazy but i googled it and 4 the hit was solidsmack I though YES!

By: JB

JB — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:44:41 +0000

I have encountered this problem many times with SolidWorks 2008. It only happens to my assemblies because I can continue to work on parts and save them repeatedly with no problem. The failed to save document message will pop up I work on a part but that looks to me like the open assembly file has failed to save during an auto save.

Closing and reopening the assembly file without closing SolidWorks or the part files will solve the problem but any changes made to the assembly before closing, of course, it will be lost. I am generally working with a small assemblies of 10 or 12 parts with 5 or 6 assembly configurations.

Today a light bulb went on in my head and confirmed what I have been suspecting for some time now. I have noticed that sometimes if I am moving or selecting something with my optical mouse, the failed to save message pops up right then and there even though I was not manually saving at the time. I suspect that when an auto save occurs coinciding with certain kinds of mouse activity, somehow the OS can’t cope with those simultaneous commands. After one of the mouse-induced spaz sessions occurs, the assembly cannot be saved anymore while the parts still can.

I am running Windows XP Professional X64 Edition and the X64 version of SolidWorks.

I don’t have a solution but I am curious to learn if anyone else has noticed the mouse and auto save connection. In earlier versions of SolidWorks with Windows XP 32 bit OS on a different computer and mouse I encountered total freeze-ups of the computer when moving the mouse and selecting on the fly without holding the mouse completely stationary. Both of these mouse induced problems only happen once in a while; anywhere from once a week to a couple times a day.

By: AZwief

AZwief — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:44:23 +0000

I discovered a work around, in my case the HUGE file wasn’t saving, in the top assembly model I selected on the parent object in the tree, righ clicked on the mouse and selected “set to lightweight”, once completed regenerating, again select on the same object this time selecting “set lightweight to resolved” this preformed a complete regen and the file saved.

Good luck

By: Martin Hook

Martin Hook — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:57:02 +0000

I have had this happen when working on assemblys only, so far I have always had to shut down the file and start again. This has now happened about 18 times (as we keep a log of all SW 2008 errors). SW has examined the files and so far found nothing wrong. The network was blamed initially, but over xmas it happed a few times when working from C drive only so Im not sure. I am down to saving every 5 changes so that I minimise the lost time. I wil give the tips a go and see what happens.

Thanks Martin

By: LennyWorks

LennyWorks — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:10:59 +0000

I (and a few other co-workers) have run into this problem a few too many times. I have found that using SaveAs and saving the file another drive may resolve the problem.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:46:30 +0000

Neil, Hi, you’re right, that sometimes works too. But like you say, with references, If you have a lot of top-down assemblies, your features will go out of context, so best to try the Find References (or Pack and Go to rename) first. Thanks!

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:18:50 +0000

Something that has worked for me is “save as”, then reboot Solidworks and resave back to the original file. This method could get complicated if you have lots of references, but it can work as a last resort.

By: Craig S.

Craig S. — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:34:50 +0000

Excellent info!! We’ve ran into that quite a bit here and it is extremely frustrating. I will keep that around for reference.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:21:08 +0000

Thanks guys, That’s also a good one Ricky. I came across another one as well. Make sure the file you’re trying to save is not read-only.

I’m running an optimized windows them called CrystalXP. It looks nice but also reduces RAM consumption.

By: Ricky Jordan

Ricky Jordan — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 04:52:30 +0000

Great Tips Josh. I too have run into this message from time to time. Performing a Forced Rebuild (Ctrl Q) has worked for me a few times as well.

Hey, I’ve got to ask you. Are you running some kind of modified Windows XP theme or Vista? The reason I ask is the close icon in your image looks much different from the norm.

Best Regards,

Ricky Jordan
http://www.rickyjordan.com

By: Mike Puckett

Mike Puckett — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:29:07 +0000

Josh,

Great tips! I have been running into this periodically since 2007.

By: K Mason

K Mason — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:16:33 +0000

I encountered this error quite a few times and I most common is switching configurations.