“Can you send me a photo of the part” calls in after-sales could be avoided. eDrawings can export a SolidWorks model as a single HTML file. The customer opens the file in their own browser, rotates the model, zooms in, and points to the exact part. They don’t install anything on their side.
You do need eDrawings Professional to create that file in the first place. Here’s what that takes, how to test it before buying anything, and this method’s limitations.
What you need before you start
eDrawings Professional is a perpetual license, around 1’000 Eur. It also comes included with SolidWorks Professional and Premium, so check what you already have before buying anything.
Without the Professional license turned on, the HTML export option won’t show up in Save As. That’s the part people get stuck on.
Test it yourself for free
Install eDrawings free, then click to add a professional license inside the app. It gives you an instant 15-day trial, full access to the HTML export. Enough time to export a real part, check how it looks in a browser, and decide if it’s worth doing for your whole catalog.
How to export the 3D model as an eDrawings HTML file
- Save your 3D model as an eDrawings file (.eprt, .easm or .edrw) or just a .step file.
- Turn on the Professional license in eDrawings.
- Open the model in eDrawings, then File, Save As.
- Under “Save as type,” pick eDrawings Web HTML File. Not the ActiveX HTML option, that one isn’t browser native and most customers’ browsers will block it.
- Save. You get one .html file.
- To open it yourself: right-click the file, Open with, pick your browser.
- To share it: upload it to a web hosting, or send it as a file.
Share it with a customer or put it on the machine itself
Upload the .html file to any web host: your own site, SharePoint, or a shared drive link. Anyone with the link opens it straight in a browser.
Print that link as a QR code (you can use this tool) and put it on the machine or in its manual. Anyone standing next to the machine can scan it and find the part they’re looking at.
This method’s limitations
The file is view-only, and it’s a fixed snapshot of that model version. A customer can find and measure a part, but they can’t order it from inside the file. If the machine changes, you export a new file and send it again.
That’s fine for a single drawing or one product line. It gets harder to maintain across a full machine range, because every model change means a new export, a new upload, and a new link to send out.
If your after-sales bottleneck is customers who can’t identify the right part, this is a simple first step and it takes a few hours to set up. If you’re looking at something more connected, where parts, stock and orders data reach ERP or CRM, book a call and I’ll show you what’s possible.
