# STEP files limitation

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/step-files-limitation/16424
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [April 3, 2025, 12:15pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/step-files-limitation/16424 "2025-04-03T12:15:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Nourelden](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/d78d45/32.png) [@Nourelden](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Nourelden)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2025, 12:15pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/step-files-limitation/16424/1 "2025-04-03T12:15:02Z")

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Hello,

I am using ParaView 5.13.2 and encountering issues when opening STEP files with the **STEPReader**. The reader shown as **OCCTReader** gets stuck at a certain loading percentage and remains in this state for a long time. If I attempt to interact with the software during this process, it becomes unresponsive.

Notably, very small STEP files (less than 1MB) can be opened without issues, but larger ones seem to cause this problem. Is there a recommended way to manage or optimize the loading process for STEP files in ParaView?

Any advice or solutions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 ![image](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/3X/3/a/3abac3e52c4722aa050ac5a12ea0d7ae42411ed5.png)

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/step-files-limitation/16424/2 "2025-04-03T12:16:09Z")

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Please share your data.

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### Author: ![Nourelden](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/d78d45/32.png) [@Nourelden](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Nourelden)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2025, 12:31pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/step-files-limitation/16424/3 "2025-04-03T12:31:22Z")

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Thank you for your response. Unfortunately, the STEP files I am working with contain confidential data, so I am unable to share them publicly. Is there another way?

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2025, 12:33pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/step-files-limitation/16424/4 "2025-04-03T12:33:58Z")

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Hi @Nourelden

You may want to reach out to Kitware for professional support then 🙂

> **[Get Support - Kitware Europe](https://www.kitware.eu/get-support/)**
>
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Best,