One button inside SOLIDWORKS. Click it and the part or assembly you have open is exported as STEP, saved to your STEPFILE.com account in the folder you pick, and shared the way you choose: a link for anyone, an email to specific people, or one of your groups. Free with any STEPFILE.com account.

Released October 2026. STEPFILE-Addin-Setup-0.7.3.exe, SHA-256: e532e583088e7a5fc195346a37899ba5ac28252aa3a87ae49c4c4f06707bd2b1. Prefer no installer program? Get the zip (55 KB, SHA-256 9a9424179e4172ca4a57006b5c8d8b13271409f0ee211c7a48b02fba63b348de) and double-click Install.cmd inside it.

New in 0.7.3 (October 16, 2026): the add-in now talks to STEPFILE.com directly and says STEPFILE.com everywhere, including its SOLIDWORKS tab and the Send to STEPFILE.com button. Run the new installer over the version you have; if your account was connected, it stays connected. Version 0.7.2 also fixed “didn’t send back a connection key”.

What You Need

• Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
• SOLIDWORKS installed on the same computer. Tested with SOLIDWORKS 2023; earlier versions back to 2017 should work but haven’t been tested yet.
• A STEPFILE.com account, free or paid, with a confirmed email address. Create one free.
• Permission to approve one Windows administrator prompt during install.

Install It (About Two Minutes)

1. Save your work and close SOLIDWORKS.
2. Download the installer above and double-click STEPFILE-Addin-Setup-0.7.3.exe. If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click More info, then Run anyway. (The installer isn’t code-signed yet, so Windows doesn’t recognize the publisher.)
3. Click Next, then Install. It installs for your Windows user only.
4. When Windows asks “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?”, click Yes. That registers the add-in with SOLIDWORKS.
5. Click Finish.
6. Open SOLIDWORKS and open any part or assembly. A STEPFILE.com tab appears with three buttons: Send to STEPFILE.com, Connect account, and Disconnect.

Connect Your Account (Once Per Computer)

Click Connect account. Your browser opens STEPFILE.com; sign in if it asks, then click Allow. That’s it. You never type a password into SOLIDWORKS and never copy a key: the add-in gets a connection of its own, stored encrypted for your Windows user only. To see or cut off a computer’s access, open your account, Settings, Connected apps.

Send A Model

1. Open a part or assembly and click Send to STEPFILE.com. The model has to be saved first; if it has unsaved changes, the add-in offers to save them. A model with no solid or surface body yet (just a sketch) is refused, so nobody gets an empty file.
2. Check the name it will have on STEPFILE.com and pick a folder, or make a new one.
3. Choose how to share it: Don’t share, Everyone (anyone with the link), An individual (STEPFILE.com emails each person a link), or A group. Then pick what recipients may do (download and re-share, measure, see attachments, comment), when the link expires, and on paid plans a password. Your sharing defaults from account Settings are filled in for you.
4. Click Send. The model goes up as STEP AP242, the newest version of the standard, and the finished window gives you Open it and Copy link.

What It Can And Can’t Touch

• It installs into your own Windows profile and registers one add-in with SOLIDWORKS.
• It talks only to STEPFILE.com (at stepfile.com, and at stepfile.com once we move there).
• It exports a temporary STEP copy, uploads it, and deletes the copy. Your SOLIDWORKS files are never changed, except that it saves unsaved changes when you tell it to.
• Its connection can list your folders and groups, create folders and models, and share a model it just sent. It can’t open, download, overwrite, unshare, or delete anything already in your account. We built it that way on purpose.

Remove It

Close SOLIDWORKS, then open Windows Settings, Apps, find STEPFILE.com Add-In for SOLIDWORKS and click Uninstall. (If you used the zip, double-click Uninstall.cmd instead.) It asks once for administrator approval, then removes the add-in, its files, and this computer’s connection. To remove the connection on the website too: your account, Settings, Connected apps, Revoke.

If Something Goes Wrong

• “didn’t send back a connection key”: you have version 0.7.1 or older. Download 0.7.3 above, run it over the old one, and click Connect account again.
• No STEPFILE.com tab: in SOLIDWORKS choose Tools, Add-Ins, and tick STEPFILE.com in both columns (Active Add-ins and Start Up). Close and reopen SOLIDWORKS.
• “SOLIDWORKS is running”: close it (check Task Manager for SLDWORKS.exe) and run the installer again.
• “The website’s security check stopped the request”: open stepfile.com in your browser once, then try again.
• “Your email address isn’t confirmed”: open the confirmation email from STEPFILE.com, or resend it from your account page.
• Still stuck? Tell us and attach the logs: install.log in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\StepFileViewer Add-In, and addin.log in %LOCALAPPDATA%\StepFileViewer (the add-in keeps these folder names so updates install over older versions).