What is ZWCAD .dws file?

Question: Hi there, can anyone tell me what is CAD .dws file? Isn’t that we save dwg as AutoCAD file? What does dws format use for?

Answer: 
DWS (DraWing Standard) is the file extension of template files for the standards checks. It is used in the drawing standards functions. You can create a DWS file using the Save As command.




Similar threads on ZWCAD forum:

How to use CAD drawing standards file? 
What is .dws file format? 

What is DWG format? What program open .DWG file?

Question: I received a .dwg file of a drawing in an e-mail, but none of the programs on my computer will open the file to let me view it. Which programs will let me?

Answer: Hi, DWG means drawing, it is a CAD file. You will need to have the AutoCAD program or ZWCAD+program to open it. ZWCAD+ provide 30 days for free trial. 

Here are some information from wiki: 
DWG(DraWinG) is a binary file format used for storing two and three dimensional design data and metadata. It is the native format for several CAD packages including AutoCAD, ZWCAD and so on. The .bak (drawing backup), .dws (drawing standards), .dwt (drawing template) and .sv$ (temporary automatic save) files are also DWG files. 


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You may like more threads about “dwg” on CAD forum: 

DWG to WMF converter?

How to convert AutoCAD DWG to PDF?

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What is .bak file? ZWCAD saves that for what?

Question: Hi I just began to use CAD, and I found that ZWCAD save .bak file for each .dwg in a folder. What does .bak file use for? How can I open it?

Answer: Hi, .bak file is a drawing backup file for CAD DWG file, which saved by ZWCAD. When you editing the DWG file, your previous revision saved by last time is stored in the .bak file. Why we need the .bak file? Because drawings can become corrupted due to a system crash, power failure, etc. When your drawing corrupt, you can still find your last revision from the .bak file, just change the extension .bak to .dwg, or use ZWCAD+ Drawing Recovery Manager to recover .BAK files automatically. 

You may be interested in these posts:

How to convert AutoCAD DWG to DGN?

How to convert DGN to DWG? 

How to convert Microstation to AutoCAD drawing?

 

CAD tips: File extension SV$, what is SV$? How to open SV$ file?

Issue:

After using ZWCAD for a while, you find there are some file with SV$ as extension in your folder. What is this file? How to open it?

Solution:

The SV$ file is automatically saved DWG file. If you start the automatic save option, your drawing is saved at specified time intervals. By default, system assigned the name filename.sv$ for temporarily saved files, filename here refers to current drawing name.

The temporary files are removed automatically when a drawing closes normally. However, these files are not deleted if there is a program failure or power failure. You can recover the drawing by reverting to a previous version of your drawing from the automatically saved file. In order to do that, you have to rename the file using a .dwg extension. You can find SV$ file from “C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp”

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You may like more threads about “autosave” and “SV$” on CAD forum: 

1. autocadautosave settings? how to setup autocad auto save?

2. whereis autocad autosave location? Where to find my auto save drawings?

3. howto turn off auto save in autocad? I need to disable autosave

4. howto recover autocad autosave file?

5. sv$to dwg, how to change sv$ to dwg, what is SV$ file?

6. transform.SV$ file into .dwg file

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