You can view the most recent Release Notes here.
For a list of fixed SPRs, click here.
Refer to What's New, available from the Help menu, for descriptions of new functionality.
SOLIDWORKS 2019 SP5 is the last release to support SOLIDWORKS Explorer as a stand-alone application. The supported functions such as Pack and Go, Rename, Replace, and Move are available in file shortcut menus in Windows Explorer.
For current information about SOLIDWORKS active products and End of Life products, see SOLIDWORKS and SW PDM System Requirements. For Microsoft Operating System Lifecycle information, see Microsoft’s Windows lifecycle fact sheet.
| SOLIDWORKS Version | SOLIDWORKS Support | Microsoft Extended Support | SOLIDWORKS Lifecycle Start | SOLIDWORKS Lifecycle End |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SW 2018 | Yes | Yes | Oct 2017 | Dec 2019 |
| SW 2019 | Yes * | Partial (15 months) |
Oct 2018 | Dec 2020 |
| SW 2020 | Yes * | Partial (3 months) |
Oct 2019 | Dec 2021 |
| SW 2021 | No/Install blocked | No | Oct 2020 | Dec 2022 |
SOLIDWORKS 2018 SP5 is the last release to support the Windows® 8.1 64-bit operating system. SOLIDWORKS 2019 products will not install on Windows 8.1.
SOLIDWORKS 2019 SP5 is the last release to support the Windows Server® 2012 R2 operating system. SOLIDWORKS 2020 products will not install on Windows Server 2012 R2.
SOLIDWORKS 2018 SP5 is the last release to support the Windows Server® 2012 operating system. SOLIDWORKS 2019 products will not install on Windows Server 2012.
SOLIDWORKS 2020 SP5 is the last release to support Microsoft® Excel 2013 and Word 2013.
SOLIDWORKS 2018 SP5 is the last release to support Microsoft® Excel 2010 and Word 2010.
SOLIDWORKS 2019 SP5 is the last release to support SQL Server® 2012.
To ensure successful installation and optimum performance, see SOLIDWORKS and SW PDM System Requirements.
For optimum graphics performance and stability, see SOLIDWORKS Hardware Certification.
To use SOLIDWORKS PDM 2020 with SQL Server® 2014 or SQL Server® 2014 Express, you must install Service Pack 3 or later. To upgrade your SQL Server 2014 or SQL Server 2014 Express installation to SP3, download the service pack here.
Beginning with SOLIDWORKS 2020, DVD distribution media is provided only on request. Contact your Reseller for more information.
Some antivirus software prevents proper installation of SOLIDWORKS. For additional information, see Antivirus Products.
To modify an installation of SOLIDWORKS PDM Server and its components, use Programs and Features from the Windows Control Panel. You cannot modify the installation with SOLIDWORKS Installation Manager (SLDIM), even if that is what you used to install SOLIDWORKS PDM Server.
Some fonts that shipped in prior versions of Windows have moved into optional features in Windows 10. When upgrading to Windows 10, these fonts may not be installed on your system. If you find that a SOLIDWORKS document uses a font that is no longer installed on your computer, refer to Microsoft Knowledge base article 3083806.
When you save a drawing document as a PDF file, and the drawing contains non-English (non-ASCII) characters, the appropriate fonts must be available to render the characters. If the specified font is not installed on your computer or does not support Unicode character glyphs, then the Arial Unicode MS font is used. If the Arial Unicode MS font is also missing, then the characters fail to render. The Arial Unicode MS font is not provided with Microsoft® Office® 2016 software. (See Windows 10 Fonts Missing, above.) Workaround: To install the Arial Unicode MS font, install both Microsoft® Office® Professional Plus 2013 (minimal installation with only International Options enabled) and Microsoft® Office® (2016 or later).
Recommendation: Use the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office. If you are embedding Microsoft Office 32-bit OLE objects in your SOLIDWORKS documents, refer to Microsoft Knowledge base article 983396 to fix OLE objects displaying as an icon.
There are no functionality-specific items at this time.
Corrections and Clarifications:
There are no items specific to SOLIDWORKS CAM at this time.
There are no items specific to SOLIDWORKS Composer at this time.
To use SOLIDWORKS Electrical 2020 with SQL Server® 2014 or SQL Server® 2014 Express, you must install Service Pack 3 or later. To upgrade your SQL Server 2014 or SQL Server 2014 Express installation to SP3, download the service pack here.
Anonymous Data Collection
To improve product usability and performance, the SOLIDWORKS Electrical software collects metadata and metrics about the software usage. The process is transparent and entirely anonymous.
Help in English is up to date.
Help is now available in Turkish.
Help in Chinese-simplified, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Russian has the same content as SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation 2019 SP2 help, even though the titles indicate SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation 2020.
There are no items specific to SOLIDWORKS Inspection at this time.
There are no items specific to SOLIDWORKS PCB at this time.
The SOLIDWORKS Plastics tutorials PDF is available only in English.
To ensure successful installation and optimum performance, see Prerequisites and System Requirements.
For a comparison of render performance across different NVIDIA graphics cards, see SOLIDWORKS Visualize Benchmarks.
Refer to What's New, available from the Home Screen, for descriptions of new functionality.
A new option, Allow denoiser from pass, in , lets you specify at what pass your scene starts using the Denoiser.