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#72185 by mijenix
Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:33 am
I am going through our vast symbol library and have noticed that there are 2 different file extensions. .dsf and .sm3. What is the correct extension?

Thanks,
#72187 by joshhuggins
Wed Aug 30, 2017 12:03 pm
.DSF is the current file extension. .SM3 is the old version of symbols from before version 12 (I think).

Ideally you want DSF versions of all your symbols and to remove all the old SM3 versions. I would do the following if you have not done so already or find that you have SM3 versions of symbols that don't have a DSF counterpart.
- Make a complete backup of your symbol files to a backup location outside the root folder where your symbols are stored, preferably to another drive. Hopefully they all live under the same main folder.
- With Datacad closed open your dcadwin.ini file in a text editor and find the following section and set it to TRUE if is is not already set.
Code: Select all[SymbolBrowser]
ConvSM3ToDSF=TRUE

- Close and save your dcadwin.ini file.
- Start Datacad and create a new blank drawing.
- Using the Symbol browser, click the Folder icon to bring up the Browse dialog. Select each folder where you have .SM3 files and Datacad will create new DSF versions of the SM3 files (if they don't already exist).
- Once you are sure you have browsed all locations with SM3 files, you'll want to verify you have DSF versions of all your symbols. Verify by using Windows' File Explorer to browse the folders you previously browsed in the Symbol Browser to see if you have a corresponding DSF file for each of your SM3 files. If you have some SM3's that do not have a new DSF file, see below
- If you do now have a DSF file for each of your symbol files, use Windows' File Explorer to search the root folder where your symbols are stored. Search for *.sm3* to locate all of the old SM3 files and delete them.
- Close Datacad. Re-open the dcadwini.ini file and set the
Code: Select all[SymbolBrowser]
ConvSM3ToDSF=FALSE
this will speed up your symbol browsing time.
- Close and save your dcadwin.ini file.

You should be all set now to use Datacad's new DSF symbol files exclusively!

If you found that you had a few SM3's that did not get new DSF files created for them, there might be some corruption in those symbols. It would be best to recreate those symbol by inserting the SM3 symbol exploded into a new drawing and then try manually creating a new DSF symbol.
#72190 by mijenix
Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:54 pm
Thanks Josh, that is very helpful information. I'll add that to my list of things to do during maintenance.

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