Desktop Integration Post-Installation Steps

Once installed, there are several steps you should take before using the Desktop Integration add-in:

1. From Windchill, set your Attachments > File Download Mechanism preference to Use Windchill Desktop Integration functionality to download files. For more information on setting preferences, see Preference Management.

If this preference has not been set, then the DTI add-in does not recognize documents that you have downloaded from the Windchill web application. As a result, many Windchill actions (such as Check In and Check Out) are disabled for these documents.

2. Establish a connection with the Windchill server. You can configure a server as part of the installation process or later.

◦ Open Windchill in a browser and download the primary content of a Windchill document. This Windchill server is automatically established.

◦ Open a Microsoft Office application and select Windchill > Configuration. From the Windchill Desktop Integration Configuration window, you can manually configure and connect to a server. For more information, see Desktop Integration Configuration.

Most Windchill actions do not appear until you have established a connection with the server.

The Windchill Desktop Integration Configuration window includes the following options:

◦ Add the Windchill menu to the Windows Explorer right-click menu options for non-Microsoft Office documents.

◦ Control whether checkin, checkout, and overwrite prompts appear when you open and close Microsoft Office documents.

◦ Use the Compare Tools tab to identify document comparison tools for Windchill documents. By default, Windchill Desktop Integration provides actions to compare Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word documents and document versions. To compare additional file types, you can identify different third-party comparison tools.

The Attachments and Documents preference groups include the following options:

◦ Control document checkin behavior:

▪ Select the Send local file to Recycle Bin option by default.

▪ Select the Keep document open after check-in option by default.

▪ Determine whether the checkin process includes a step to edit attributes.

◦ Control upload and download behavior:

▪ Customize your default file path when downloading files from Windchill.

▪ Determine which contexts should appear in Windows Explorer by default.

▪ Determine whether you are prompted to open or save downloaded files.

For administrators who are configuring their site to use Windchill Desktop Integration (DTI), see the following topics for additional information:

Includes additional setup options and instructions on running a silent installation to deploy the Windchill Desktop Integration add-in on multiple client machines.

Includes instructions on customizing the Windchill ribbon to include actions and menus, using macros to implement custom commands, and setting up form-based authentication for DTI.

Includes instructions on managing security labels for documents for sites that have security labels enabled.