Workstations

One active machine per account on Free, Student and Professional. Moving to another is a release and a sign-in.

The rule

One workstation is active at a time on Free, Student, Standard and Professional. Enterprise is not limited to one.

The add-in sends a device identifier and the machine name with each request. The first machine to sign in binds the account; every later request from that machine only refreshes the binding, including a Windows reinstall that keeps the same identifier.

The binding is per account, not per seat. On a team, each member has their own workstation.

The three messages the activation gate can return. The name in quotes is the machine already holding the account.

CADABRA is already active on "<name>". Release it from your account settings to use this one.

You have activated CADABRA on 3 devices recently. You can activate another in <n> days, or ask an admin to reset it.

This device was released. Sign in again to activate CADABRA on it.

Blocked on a second machine

Signing in on a machine while another one holds the account is refused, and the message names the machine holding it. Nothing is taken over automatically, so a colleague cannot knock you off your own account by signing in on theirs.

The fix is to release the first machine, which you do from the dashboard rather than from the panel. The steps are below.

The three-in-30-days throttle

Activation is also rate limited by machine, separately from the one-at-a-time rule. Three distinct devices in a rolling 30-day window is the ceiling. A fourth is refused and the message says how many days are left before the oldest of those three ages out.

An already-known device is never throttled. Moving back and forth between two laptops costs nothing.

On a team, an admin can clear it: the Team page carries Release device on each member row. See seats and members.

Releasing a machine and activating another

  1. 01

    Open the Device group

    Dashboard, Account, then the Device group. The Activated on row shows the machine name and the date it was last used.

  2. 02

    Release it

    Press Release. The confirmation reads "Release <name>?" over "CADABRA stops working on that machine and you can activate it on another. Do this when you replace a computer, or when the old one is gone." Confirm with Release.

  3. 03

    Read the confirmation

    A toast confirms it: "<name> released. Sign in from the new machine to activate it." The Activated on row now reads "No device activated".

  4. 04

    Sign in on the new machine

    Open SOLIDWORKS, open the CADABRA panel, and sign in. The first request binds the account to that machine. Nothing else is needed. If the add-in is not installed there yet, see install.

  5. 05

    Ignore the old panel

    If the panel is still open on the released machine it stops working and says "This device was released. Sign in again to activate CADABRA on it." Signing in there again takes the account back, and blocks the new machine.

What this is not

This is not a license check against SOLIDWORKS. You still need your own SOLIDWORKS license on the machine, and CADABRA does not touch it.

It is also not the reason a mode is greyed out or a prompt is refused for credits. Those are the plan, not the machine: plans, usage, and limits.