Where SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematic Files Are Stored — and What eDrawings Can Actually Open

A common source of confusion for engineers new to SOLIDWORKS Electrical: you open Windows Explorer, navigate to your usual SOLIDWORKS projects folder, and find only 3D cable route assemblies and harness parts — but no schematic files. The actual electrical schematics appear to be missing.

They are not missing. They live in a completely different location, in a completely different format, managed by a completely different database engine. Understanding this separation is the first step to finding your files, setting up backups, and knowing what you can and cannot share.

Why Electrical Schematics Aren’t in Your SOLIDWORKS Folder

Standard SOLIDWORKS stores models and drawings as individual flat files — .sldprt, .sldasm, .slddrw — that you can browse, copy, and back up like any other file. SOLIDWORKS Electrical works differently. The application stores schematic project data in a SQL Server Compact (or SQL Server) database, not as individual flat files. The ProgramData folder is the root of this database store.

This architecture explains what the user on the SOLIDWORKS forum noticed: only 3D models were visible in the SOLIDWORKS project directory. Those 3D models — cable routes, connector blocks, harness assemblies — are the outputs of SOLIDWORKS Electrical 3D (the routing integration), and they are genuine .sldprt/.sldasm files. The source schematics that drove those routes live elsewhere.

Where the Files Actually Are

Default location: C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS Electrical\

The ProgramData folder is hidden by default on Windows. To access it, type %ProgramData% directly into the Windows Explorer address bar.

Inside C:\ProgramData\SOLIDWORKS Electrical\, the relevant subdirectories are:

The Projects\ subfolder is what you are looking for — but do not expect to find readable schematic diagrams there. The project data is stored in the SQL database. What you find in the filesystem is supplemental physical data: embedded drawings stored as DWG blocks, images, and other binary assets referenced by the database.

If SOLIDWORKS Electrical Is Configured for a Server

In multi-user or enterprise setups, the data location may be redirected to a shared network path. Your installation administrator will have set this during initial configuration. To find your current data path, open SOLIDWORKS Electrical, go to Tools > Application Settings > Data, and read the Data folder field. That path overrides the default ProgramData location.

The Archive Format: .PROJ.TEWZIP

Because the project data is split between a SQL database and physical files, you cannot simply copy the Projects\ folder to back up or share a project. SOLIDWORKS Electrical uses a dedicated archive format to package everything together.

Project archive: .PROJ.TEWZIP

A .PROJ.TEWZIP file is a ZIP archive that contains a SQL database export plus all physical files associated with the project — symbols, title blocks, reports, and embedded documents. It is the correct unit for:

• Sending a project to a colleague or subcontractor
• Backing up a single project before major changes
• Moving projects between machines or installations

To create one: Project > Archive (or right-click the project in the Project Manager panel).

To restore one: Project > Unarchive, then browse to the .PROJ.TEWZIP file. SOLIDWORKS Electrical will import the SQL data and extract the physical files into the configured data folder.

Other .TEWZIP archive types cover specific subsets of the environment:

Can eDrawings Open SOLIDWORKS Electrical Schematics?

No. eDrawings does not support SOLIDWORKS Electrical native formats.

eDrawings can open: .sldprt, .sldasm, .slddrw, .eprt, .easm, .edrw, .dwg, .dxf. None of these correspond to the schematic data format used by SOLIDWORKS Electrical.

The 3D cable route assemblies (.sldasm) that appear in your SOLIDWORKS project folder can be opened in eDrawings — you can view the 3D wire routing and connector placement. But the underlying 2D schematic diagrams that define the connections cannot be opened in eDrawings or any other standard CAD viewer.

What You Can Do Instead

Option 1: Export to PDF from SOLIDWORKS Electrical

The most practical sharing method. Inside SOLIDWORKS Electrical, go to File > Print (or right-click any sheet in the Project Explorer). Select Print to file or use the dedicated Export PDF command. You get a flat, viewable PDF of the schematic sheets.

This is the correct answer for: reviewers who need to read the schematic, procurement teams who need the BOM, or anyone without a SOLIDWORKS Electrical license.

Option 2: DWG Export

SOLIDWORKS Electrical can export schematics as DWG files. This preserves geometry and text as editable DWG entities. The export is under File > Export > DWG/DXF. The result can be opened in AutoCAD, DraftSight, or any DWG-capable viewer — including eDrawings. However, the exported DWG is a flat drawing, not a live electrical schematic: it has no intelligence, no component database links, and no netlist.

Option 3: Archive and share for licensed users

If the recipient has SOLIDWORKS Electrical installed, send the .PROJ.TEWZIP archive. They unarchive it into their installation, and the full live project is available.

Why the 3D Models Are in the Wrong Place

The architecture becomes clearer when you understand what SOLIDWORKS Electrical produces:

1. Schematic (2D) — wire diagrams, terminal strips, reports. Stored in the SQL database under ProgramData.
2. 3D Routing (3D) — cables, connectors, and harnesses as geometry. Stored as .sldprt/.sldasm files in your SOLIDWORKS file path, linked back to the schematic database by reference designators.

The 3D models in your SOLIDWORKS folder are the outputs of the 3D integration workflow — they reference the schematic for connection data but are stored where SolidWorks stores everything else. They appear in your normal project hierarchy because they are normal SOLIDWORKS files. The schematics that generated them are in the database.

This two-location architecture is intentional: it lets the 3D routing use standard SolidWorks file management (PDM, Pack & Go, etc.) while the schematic database handles the electrical intelligence (netlists, BOMs, component databases).

Setting Up Proper Backups

Because the project data lives in a SQL database under ProgramData, copying the folder is not a reliable backup. Mid-operation copies can capture an inconsistent database state.

The supported backup approaches:

1. SOLIDWORKS Electrical Archive — .PROJ.TEWZIP or full .TEWZIP environment archive. These produce consistent snapshots.
2. SQL Server backup — If your installation uses a full SQL Server (not SQL Compact), back up the database with standard SQL Server tools.
3. Environment Archive — covers all projects, libraries, and settings in one file. Recommended for full machine backup or migration.

For drawing release workflows, the .PROJ.TEWZIP archive can be checked into SOLIDWORKS PDM as a file alongside the drawing outputs. This keeps schematic and drawing revisions synchronized without requiring SOLIDWORKS Electrical to be installed on every vault client.

If you are on a workflow where drawings are released as PDFs from SolidWorks drawings (using Save As PDF vs Print to PDF for the output format), electrical schematics follow the same release pattern — PDF export from SOLIDWORKS Electrical, then the PDF is the released artifact.

For teams managing file naming and metadata across drawing types, the same custom property linking approach that populates title blocks in SolidWorks drawings applies to the title block templates in SOLIDWORKS Electrical — the field names reference the database properties, not $PRPSHEET, but the concept of pulling metadata into the drawing sheet format at export time is the same.

Summary

If your goal is to read the schematics without SOLIDWORKS Electrical installed, export to PDF. If your goal is to move the project to another machine with SOLIDWORKS Electrical, use the .PROJ.TEWZIP archive. The distinction between the 2D schematic database and the 3D routing files is the key to understanding where everything lives.