Convert EDRW to DWG

AutoCAD and other CAD systems require DWG when a drawing must be edited, coordinated, or archived as native CAD data. An EDRW file normally contains only the published viewing version, so the practical conversion route is to obtain the original SolidWorks drawing and export it.

What the EDRW format is

.edrw is the eDrawings distribution format for SolidWorks drawing documents. It is published through SOLIDWORKS or eDrawings Publisher and is commonly opened by recipients in the free eDrawings Viewer. An EDRW can display sheets, drawing views, dimensions, notes, and markups, but it is intended for review and communication rather than unrestricted CAD editing.

Publisher settings can restrict operations such as printing, measuring, or markup. Removing those restrictions does not normally restore the original SolidWorks entities, layers, constraints, model references, or parametric history. An EDRW should therefore not be treated as an editable .slddrw file.

What the DWG format is

.dwg is Autodesk’s native CAD drawing format, supported by AutoCAD and many compatible applications. It can store editable 2D and 3D geometry, layers, blocks, text, dimensions, layouts, and drafting settings. DWG is the appropriate target when a recipient must revise geometry, change annotations, coordinate with other CAD files, or maintain a native CAD archive.

How to convert the source drawing

Use the original SolidWorks drawing whenever possible. Request the source .slddrw file and, for drawings dependent on model views, the referenced .sldprt or .sldasm files.

1. Open the .slddrw file in SOLIDWORKS.
2. Choose File → Save As.
3. Set the output type to DWG (*.dwg). Use DXF (*.dxf) instead if the receiving system specifically requires DXF.
4. Select the sheets to export and configure the available options for drawing scale, entities, layers, fonts, line types, and layer mapping.
5. Open the exported file in AutoCAD, DraftSight, or another DWG-compatible application and verify the result.

If the available source is only a SolidWorks part or assembly, create the required drawing document and views in SOLIDWORKS first, then export that drawing to DWG. DraftSight and AutoCAD can edit the exported DWG, but neither normally converts an EDRW package into equivalent native CAD geometry.

What to do when only EDRW is available

Open the file in eDrawings Viewer to inspect its sheets and use File → Print to create a PDF when a visual record is sufficient. A PDF preserves the printed appearance but does not produce an editable DWG. If the PDF contains vector linework, PDF-to-CAD import or manual tracing may recover some 2D geometry, but dimensions, layers, blocks, associative relationships, hidden lines, and model references usually require cleanup or reconstruction.

There is no generally reliable direct EDRW-to-DWG converter. Mainstream online services such as CloudConvert and Zamzar support many DWG and DXF conversions, but their EDRW support is inconsistent or absent; use them only when the service explicitly lists EDRW as an input format and test the output on a nonconfidential file. Do not upload proprietary engineering drawings without reviewing the provider’s retention and security terms.

Quality and compatibility checks

A SolidWorks DWG export is an exchange file, not a guaranteed copy of the original drafting database. Check units, sheet size, scale, title blocks, layer assignments, lineweights, hatch patterns, hidden-line display, fonts, SHX substitutions, text placement, dimension values, and dimension associativity. Confirm that external references and custom properties were not lost.

Drawing views generated from 3D parts or assemblies generally export as 2D DWG entities. The DWG will not contain the original SolidWorks feature tree, mates, parametric dimensions, or fully editable 3D model unless those data are exported separately through an appropriate 3D CAD workflow.