3DEXPERIENCE and SolidWorks: What to Check Before You Decide

If your team designs in SOLIDWORKS® 3D CAD and you're looking at 3DEXPERIENCE, you can work out what your team actually needs before you decide. I've worked in SolidWorks for more than 30 years and managed CAD data for engineering teams across five countries. This is the checklist I walk teams through, and it applies whichever way you go.

Want to talk it through? Book a free 20-minute demo with me, or Try Free for 14 days, no credit card.

What the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is Dassault Systèmes' cloud-based product development platform. Dassault describes it as a platform that "connects people, processes and data together in a cloud-based environment," and says it extends SOLIDWORKS so that everyone involved in product development can contribute.

Source: The 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, solidworks.com, accessed 22 September 2026.

Six questions to answer before you decide

Most of the teams I talk to are weighing the same things. Answer these first and the right choice gets much easier to see:

• Who will run it? Name the person, and how many hours a week they can give it.
• Where do your engineers work? One office, several sites, or from home.
• Who outside CAD needs to see designs? Production, purchasing, suppliers and clients.
• How are your files organized today? Folder structure, file naming, and how many assemblies share common parts.
• What does "released" mean in your team? Who signs off, and how production knows a drawing is current.
• When do you need it working? This month, or after a planned rollout.

What your answers point to

Look at where your answers landed. If they sound like this, you already know what you are shopping for:

• "Nobody full-time" means it has to run without an administrator
• "Several sites" or "from home" means no server to reach and no VPN to set up
• "Production and suppliers" means reviewers open designs in a browser, with no CAD seat
• "This month" means your first assembly is checked in the day you start

If that is your list, bring your answers to a free 20-minute demo. I'll tell you straight whether Sibe fits your team.

Signs your shared drive has reached its limit

It rarely breaks on day one. It breaks when the team grows, a second site or remote engineers join, or a customer asks for the revision history of a part you shipped. If two or more of these happen in your team, your SolidWorks files need more than a folder:

• Revision history lives in file names: bracket_RevC_final_v2.SLDPRT
• Two engineers open the same assembly, and the last save wins
• A renamed or moved part breaks references, and someone spends an hour finding missing components
• Engineers at another site or at home copy files locally, then merge by hand
• Production and suppliers work from STEP files someone emailed weeks ago
• A customer or auditor asks which revision was released, and nobody can say for sure

The basics to put in place, whichever way you go

You can fix all of these without changing how your engineers design. Whatever you decide, these basics come first:

1. Check-in and check-out directly in SolidWorks. Engineers stay in the tool they already use, and one person edits a file at a time.
2. Version history on every check-in. Who changed what, when and why, with earlier versions you can open and restore.
3. Assembly references that survive a move or rename. Parts, assemblies and drawings stay linked when the folder structure changes.
4. A release workflow. A clear path from In Progress through review to Released, with released files locked.
5. Access for people without SolidWorks. Production, suppliers and clients open the current model in a browser.
6. Setup your team runs itself. No server to buy, no VPN to configure, no admin role to hire for.

How Sibe gives your team these basics

You check SolidWorks files in and out directly in SolidWorks, and Sibe tracks every version. Sibe is collaboration-first CAD Document Management with a native SolidWorks add-in, and it runs in the cloud.

• Version control on every check-in, with author and description recorded, and visible check-out locks so everyone sees who is editing which file
• Assembly references updated when files are moved, renamed or imported, plus a Missing References page for anything left over
• Release workflows with approvers and observers, from In Progress through review to Released
• Design reviews in the browser, with comments and measurements pinned to the 3D model
• Free Visitor Links that open 3D models and 2D drawings in any browser, no Sibe account needed
• Bills of materials built from your assemblies, and PDF, STEP, DXF and DWG files generated on release (Scale plan)

The same workspace serves one engineering team or several sites. Everyone checks in to the same vault, so an engineer at home and a colleague in the plant open the same current assembly.

What it costs your team

You can price your whole team in one line. Engineers who check files in and out take an Editor seat, reviewers who mark up and approve take a Contributor seat, and people outside the company use free Visitor Links. Here is a team of 10 engineers and 5 reviewers:

Core plan prices, billed annually. Month-to-month prices, the Scale plan and Viewer seats are on the pricing page.

Shared drive or Sibe: what changes day to day

Two teams that moved off a shared drive

CeiliX: 10 engineers, from OneDrive

CeiliX builds intralogistics automation and robots in Germany. Its 10-person SolidWorks team kept assemblies in OneDrive, marked revisions with Rev A and Rev B in file names, and sent production manual STEP exports. The team now checks files in and out directly in SolidWorks, releases through a workflow, and shares models with production and sales through browser links and QR codes.

"We had a lot of assemblies and parts laying around, organized not so well in OneDrive. Revisions meant copying the file and putting Rev A or Rev B in the filename." Robin Heitz, Head of Robot Development, CeiliX

Read the CeiliX case study

Cremmjoy: a 2,000-part assembly, from a SharePoint drive

Cremmjoy builds soft serve and slush machines in Louisiana. Four SolidWorks users, growing to five, worked on an assembly of about 2,000 parts stored on a SharePoint shared drive, with no version control, no file locking and no release control. Setup took under 20 minutes. Every check-in now creates a tracked version, check-out shows who has a file, and released files lock.

"Previous file management relied on a shared drive without any PDM system, but with so many parts we needed better control." Jason Hugenroth, Founder and CEO, Cremmjoy

Read the Cremmjoy case study

Start with one project, not a migration

You don't have to move everything at once. You can start with one active project, check its assemblies in, and leave the rest of the shared drive where it is until your team is ready.

1. Start a free 14-day trial, no credit card
2. Install the Sibe add-in for SolidWorks and sign in
3. Follow the setup guide in the add-in to check in your first assembly
4. Invite a teammate, check out a part, and send a Visitor Link to someone in production

Setup takes under 20 minutes. If you'd rather see it first, book a free 20-minute demo and I'll walk you through it.

Frequently asked questions

Do we need a server, a VPN or IT support?

No. Sibe runs in the cloud. Each engineer installs the add-in, signs in, and checks files in directly in SolidWorks.

What happens to our existing folders?

You copy your SolidWorks files into the local cache folder and check them in. Sibe mirrors your folder structure in the local cache, similar though not identical, and the setup guide in the add-in walks you through your first assembly.

Will moving or renaming a part break our assemblies?

Sibe updates assembly references when files are moved, renamed or imported. Anything it can't resolve shows on the Missing References page with suggested fixes.

Can people without SolidWorks review designs?

Yes. Free Visitor Links open 3D models and 2D drawings in any browser, with no Sibe account and no CAD license.

Where is our data stored, and can we get it out?

Sibe runs on Google Cloud with a 99.9% uptime commitment, and EU Data Residency is available as an add-on. Your team signs in with Google or Microsoft 365, and you can download a ZIP backup of the whole workspace on demand or on a schedule. See data security for the details.

Can we work offline?

Yes. You work on files in your local cache and check them in when you reconnect.

What happens in the 20-minute demo

• You tell me how your team works today: sites, reviewers, and how your files are organized
• I check in an assembly directly in SolidWorks and show you version history, check-out locks and a release
• You open a Visitor Link on your phone, the way your production team would
• You leave with a seat count and a monthly cost for your team

If Sibe is not the right fit for your team, I'll say so. Prefer to try it yourself first? Start a 14-day free trial, no credit card.

Book a free 20-minute demo · Try Free

No servers, no VPNs, no admin hassles.

SOLIDWORKS is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation. Sibe is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Dassault Systèmes. 3DEXPERIENCE is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes.