Welcome & How-To's

The mission of this online community is to provide a peer-to-peer collaboration hub to share knowledge, answer each other’s technical questions and interact with PTC. These guidelines are here to: 1. Help you become a valuable contributor to the community, 2. Explain what kind of conduct to avoid, and 3.  Make sure the community is enjoyable for and respectful of all our members.  Please interact with other users accordingly and conduct yourself as you would in any professional setting.  These guidelines augment our Community Terms of Service which all members agree to when they join and choose to interact on the PTC Community. Submit only original content.Help us maintain the community’s reputation and observe the intellectual property rights of other by only submitting content you have personally written, created or else properly acquired. The community should not be used to distribute unauthorized copies of any copyrighted material. Keep it professional.Every post should make a posi

To Start a Community Topic (or Ask a Question): On the community main page, click “Create a topic”.You will be prompted to a new page. Make sure “Question” is selected in order to post a topic.Enter a meaningful subject title that will yield good search results. Under “Category” choose the board where you want to post your question. Make sure to add a “Tag” to your topic. These help classify what your topic or question is aboutWrite the content of your message using the toolbar options and add an attachment as needed.Note:  Some popular toolbar options are shared  on the screenshot below.  You can also "scroll over" to see what these icons represent. 6.  Click “Create” Note: once published, you will be able to edit your post for 1h. Beyond 1h, if you wish to correct something, you may post a reply to your message or notify the moderator. We typically want to avoid extensive changes to the history of a conversation to preserve its integrity. Last edited by Catalina, April 2026 

Community Terms of Service updated On December 8th 2021   1 - Community Agreement   By using or accessing the PTC Community, you agree (i) that you are 13 years old and the minimum age of digital consent in your country, (ii) if you are the age of majority in your jurisdiction or over, that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the PTC Community Terms of Use (this “Agreement”), and (iii) if you are between 13 (or the minimum age of digital consent, as applicable) and the age of majority in your jurisdiction, that your legal guardian has reviewed and agreed to the terms of this Agreement.  This Agreement includes the PTC website terms and conditions, privacy policy, and data processing terms and conditions. The terms of this Agreement together constitute the entire and only agreement between PTC and you with respect to the PTC Community.   In its sole discretion and without prior notice, PTC may modify the terms of this Agreement at any time and in any

Sometimes community moderators find it necessary to move or remove content during their efforts to keep the community organized and productive. Here are some frequently asked questions concerning content moves. What are the reasons my message might be moved? Most often messages are moved because they were posted in the wrong area of the community. For example, a Mathcad question posted on the Welcome & How-To's board would be moved the Mathcad discussion board where it would be more likely to get a response. On occasion, a message has to be moved or edited because it violates our Terms of Service or Community Guidelines. Outdated information may be removed and archived. Rarely, a large number of posts are moved due to a restructuring of the community. For example two related boards might be merged. Will I be able to find a topic I was following if it is moved?  Yes. If you are subscribed to a conversation, your subscription will remain, and links to the conversation will still work

It is common for online communities to have a robust gamification program with badges members can collect.  The PTC Community delivers! Community members can earn badges for community achievements, taking advantage of the resources and tools available on PTC eSupport, and adopting PTC's digital ecosystem.   Our community members are outstanding, and the PTC Community Team is happy to recognize all your great engagement and participation with PTC!   Below is a list of some of the badges that you may find on your community profile as you complete various tasks or reach activity benchmarks!  This community post will be updated as new badges are rolled out and added. As we launch, you only get one notification. When all profiles are updated, we will restore immediate notifications when a new achievement brings another badge to your profile.    1. Community Ambassador Badges     Note:  Recipients of our  PTC Community Annual Recognitio

A new PTC Community ranking system has landed on the PTC Community.   What are User Ranks?   User ranks are a fun gamification element of our PTC Community that incentivizes participation, rewards quality, and establishes reputation in the community. Every member of the community is assigned a rank based on their contributions and activity on the community.   What are the ranks on the PTC Community?   Community Level Rank Name Final Rank Icon Level 5  25-Diamond  (Top)  24-Ruby 23-Emerald 22-Sapphire 21-Topaz   Level 4 20-Turquoise 19-Tanzanite 18-Opal 17-Peridot 16-Pearl     Level 3  15-Moonstone 14-Alexandrite 13-Aquamarine 12-Amethyst 11-Garnet     Level 2  10-Marble 9-Granite 8-Gravel 7-Bedrock 6-Contributor     Level 1 5-Regular Member 4-Participant 3-Visitor 2-Guest 1-Newbie (Beginner)     Why gemstones?  Your

We love answers!You have made it so far! Let's talk about one of the critical things to do on the PTC Community: mark a reply as a Best Answer.When you start a topic, you will receive replies from other members. When one of the replies is a solution to your initial inquiry, you should accept it as a Best Answer. Just in case, we will send you an automatic reminder after a few days for you to check the replies on your topic.  Why should you consider marking a Best Answer? Consider that someone took the time to look at your post and reply. A little acknowledgement goes a long way with marking a reply as a Best Answer if the suggestion works for your problem. Of course, a post to thank or further the conversation is a plus and always appreciated! Additionally, posts with a Best Answer are returned with a higher preference by search engines on the Community. You will signal a greater value for your conversation by marking an answer. This is a strong contribution to the entire Community! La

Newly registered PTC Community members (after August 28th), are system assigned a temporary PTC Community username (aka screen name) which includes a combination of letters and numbers unique to each individual.  To optimize the PTC Community member experience, we encourage each member to change the default username to something more creative or personal (i.e. CADMGR, JSmith, Sally_456).  To change your username, follow these steps:Select “My Settings” from your profile picture in the top menu bar.Click the “Update Username" button and then "Save". 3.  Enter your desired username and click "Save." Last edited by Catalina, April 2026  

If you need help navigating or using the PTC Community, feel free to reach out to a Community Moderator (or a Community Manager) feel free to private message a member of the community team directly as well. Community Moderators:    Community Management Team:   If you are unable to send a private message, you may also send an email to the PTC Community Management Team at community@ptc.com or please make use of the “Report” button on the 3 dots menu available on every topic and reply. Last updated by Catalina, April 2026

The PTC Community is a great way to connect with other professionals in your field. Please post any job postings you wish in our PTC Community Networking board.

Effective 5/29/2019, new members registering for the PTC Community will no longer be able to use "PTC" or any of our branded product names (i.e. Windchill, Integrity, Vuforia, ThingWorx...etc) as part of their community user name  (screen name). For example, a username like creoxyz  will no longer be allowed under this new policy.    The PTC Community Team is going through a backend process to change some of the screen names prior to 5/29/2019 that do not align with this new policy.  Community members will be notified on a case by case basis if their username needs to be changed.   If you would like to have your screen name changed, please send a private message to our Moderators or @Jaime_Lee. 

To find out more about PTC Working Groups, please visit our PTC Working Group section.

To delete a private message, follow these steps: 1.  Choose your conversation and click “Show conversation”.On the conversation, hover with your mouse over the 3 dot drop-down menu on the message you want to delete and click “Delete”.It will then show it has been deleted by you.Last edited by Catalina, April 2026

To get the most out of PTC Community we've compiled a short list of free PTC product downloads, limited-time trials, and other resources (some for free, some available on a trial basis, and some available for purchase) to help members interact more. This document is open for all members to contribute to, please feel free edit/add a resource to this list as new options become available. Free PTC Software Downloads PTC Creo PTC Creo Parametric Free TrialFree trial of PTC Creo Parametric and PTC Creo Flexible Modeling Extension PTC Creo SketchFree 2D sketching for designers, easily convert your ideas to a 2D drawing PTC Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express 6.0A free version of PTC Creo Elements/Direct Modeling 19.0 direct modeling software PTC Creo View ExpressView PTC Creo 2D and 3D MCAD designs and visualize ECAD data PTC Creo View MobileA 3D CAD viewer software download for iPad and iPhone PTC Creo View Interface for ECADEnables PTC Creo View .eda file generation for use with PTC Creo