We currently have a PDF version of a drawing done with pencil at Rev C in the vault. We want to revise it, by redrawing it in SolidWorks, and then making the necessary revisions. I would like to keep it as one entry in the vault; is there a way to do this? To replace a PDF with a SLDDRW? We will probably want to do this with DWG files, too. Thanks.
Yes, checkout the file, rename the extension from "pdf" to "slddrw", then save over the file in the vault with the SolidWorks file. This will maintain your history, even the rename in history. The only catch is retrieving older versions might not work properly. We always work with the latest version so it's not much of an issue for us.
The other issue, if you use the internal revision counter, is usually there is an accompanying model file that needs to be in the system at the same revisionas the drawing. We had to write an add-in to handle migrating in files at an existing revision letter.