What Is an EASM File?

How to open, edit, & convert EASM files

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Tim Fisher
General Manager, VP, Lifewire.com
Tim Fisher has 30+ years' professional technology support experience. He writes troubleshooting content and is the General Manager of Lifewire.
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Tim Fisher
Updated on September 11, 2020

A file with the EASM file extension is an eDrawings Assembly file. It's a representation of a computer-aided design (CAD) drawing, but it isn't the full, editable version of the design.

In other words, one reason EASM files are used is so that clients and other recipients can see the design but not have access to the design data. They're a bit like Autodesk's DWF format.

Another reason EASM files are used is that they're made up of compressed XML data, which makes them the perfect format for sending CAD drawings over the internet where download time/speeds are a concern.

Screenshot of several EASM files in Windows 10 that open with eDrawings
Tim Fisher / Lifewire

EDRW and EPRT are similar eDrawings file formats. However, EAS files are completely different—they're RSLogix Symbol files used with RSLogix.

How to Open an EASM File

eDrawings is a free CAD program from SolidWorks that will open EASM files for viewing. Be sure to select FREE TOOLS on the right side of that download page to find the download link.

These files can also be opened with SketchUp, but only if you purchase the eDrawings Publisher plug-in as well. The same goes for Autodesk's Inventor and its free eDrawings Publisher for Inventor plug-in.

The eDrawings mobile app for Android and iOS can open EASM files, too. You can read more about this app on their respective download pages, both of which you can get to from the eDrawings Viewer website.

If you upload the file to Dropbox or Google Drive, you should then be able to import them into MySolidWorks Drive to view the drawing online.

If you find that an application on your PC does try to open the file but it's the wrong application or you'd rather have another installed program open it, you can learn how to do that in our Windows guide on changing which program opens EASM files by default.

How to Convert an EASM File

The EASM format was built for the purpose of viewing a CAD design, not for editing it or exporting it to some other 3D format. So, if you need to convert EASM to DWG, OBJ, etc., you'll actually need to have access to the original file.

However, the View2Vector program for Windows is advertised as being able to export this file type to formats like DXF, STEP, STL (ASCII, binary, or exploded), PDF, PLY, and STEP. We haven't tried it ourselves to see what this type of conversion actually accomplishes, but there is a 30-day trial if you want to try it out.

The eDrawings Professional software (it's free for 15 days) from SolidWorks can save an EASM file to non-CAD formats like JPG, PNG, HTM, BMP, TIF, and GIF. Also supported is an export to EXE, which embeds the viewer program in a single file—the recipient doesn't even need to have eDrawings installed to open the assembly file.

If you convert to an image file, it will look exactly as it did when you saved the file—it won't be in a 3D form that lets you move around the objects and view things from different angles. If you do this, be sure to position the drawing how you want it to appear, before you save it.

Still Can't Open the File?

If you can't get the file to open properly, make sure you're reading the file extension correctly. It's really easy to confuse different formats for each other because the file extensions are similar.

EAP and ACSM are two examples of this. Another is ASM, which might be an Assembly Language Source Code file.

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