Understanding changes between two versions or revisions of a drawing can be a challenge, especially in multiple view drawings. Solid Edge’s Compare Drawings command allows users to compare two versions of the same Solid Edge drawing to see what has changed. Both managed and unmanaged draft files (.dft) are eligible. The sheet size in both files must be the same. The draft files are opened in the inactive state to reduce the impact resulting from large files.

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To compare two Solid Edge drawings, follow these steps.

1.    Open Solid Edge and from the File menu, choose Tools → Compare Drawings

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This will launch the Compare Drawings dialog.

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2.    In the Compare Drawings dialog box, in the Configure New Comparison section, select the draft files and the sheets that you want to compare.

a.    Under File 1, click Browse, and then select and open the first .dft file to compare.

The first sheet in the document is selected by default. You can choose a different sheet from the Sheet list.

b.    Under File 2, click Browse, and then select and open the second .dft file.

If you changed the sheet selection under File1, then the same sheet is selected automatically for File2.

Note: In this example we are using to files called Compare sheet-1.dft and Compare sheet-2.dft.

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3.    To improve the legibility of the comparison output image, drag the Smoothness slider to the right.

This increases the processing time, but it greatly improves the image resolution. This can be especially useful for reading text and numbers.

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4.   Click on the Compare button.

All viewports are populated with the results. They show:

The first view is a pixel difference between the 2 files.

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The second view is the Information window listing file information.

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The other 2 views are the original view of the Detail sheet from the 2 files being compared.

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·      For larger views, you can cycle through the Display> Show options:

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·      You can also modify the colors highlighting differences and the background color.

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·      You can also use the view manipulation commands to Zoom Area, Fit, Pan, and Zoom, your views.

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5.   To save the results of the comparison, click Save, and then type a name for the results file in the Save As dialog box.

The name that you type is used to generate three .bmp output files. One file contains the differences, and the other two contain the information from the drawing sheets that were compared.

·     <drawing_name>_Differences.bmp

·     <drawing_name>_Original.bmp

·     <drawing_name>_New.bmp

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6.   If comparing a multi-sheet drawing:

a.    Use the Sheet lists to choose another sheet.

b.    Click Compare again.

All viewports are refreshed with the new information.

c.    Click Save and enter a unique name for the second set of output files.

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Tip: You can reopen a saved drawing comparison using the Browse button in the Open Existing Comparison section of the Compare Drawings dialog box.