Lightning and EPDM

Lightning is compatible with (E)PDM, many of our customers use EPDM.

Lightning works with your existing fastener library, so it works fine as long as you can tell Lightning where you store your fasteners.

Tip: put your Lightning database in PDM

When you store your fastener library in PDM, you can also add your database file in PDM. See How to share your database. This way, all engineers always work with the same data.

Absolute or relative file paths

If every user has the same exact file path for all files (which is recommended by SOLIDWORKS), you can store complete file paths in the Lightning database. If every user has their own setup, we support that too. Check out Storing absolute or relative file paths.

Invisible files

When your fasteners show up in Windows Explorer but not in the Lightning settings, you need to hit Get Latest to make sure all fasteners are downloaded locally. EPDM fakes your files so it looks like those files are already on your computer.