Assmbly moved to released folder, now no references
Assmbly moved to released folder, now no references
(OP)
Hi all,
I have a bit of a conundrum. We've recently moved to SolidWorks but neglected to get the PDM.
This hasn't been too much of a problem, we've just handled different revisions the same as with AutoCAD, by adding Rnn to the end of the file name.
We're getting some assmblies completed in SolidWorks now and generally we work on models/drawings in one folder, and when they are ready to be released. We move them to a released directory that's separated into folders by the first three digits of the part number (000 through 060).
We're finding that the assemblies are losing their references and each part file has to be found and re-referenced in the assembly individually. I dread having to do this for some more complex assemblies.
Is there any way around this? Possible to have SolidWorks search a certain directory for the file name? maybe a macro could help?
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!!
I have a bit of a conundrum. We've recently moved to SolidWorks but neglected to get the PDM.
This hasn't been too much of a problem, we've just handled different revisions the same as with AutoCAD, by adding Rnn to the end of the file name.
We're getting some assmblies completed in SolidWorks now and generally we work on models/drawings in one folder, and when they are ready to be released. We move them to a released directory that's separated into folders by the first three digits of the part number (000 through 060).
We're finding that the assemblies are losing their references and each part file has to be found and re-referenced in the assembly individually. I dread having to do this for some more complex assemblies.
Is there any way around this? Possible to have SolidWorks search a certain directory for the file name? maybe a macro could help?
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!!






RE: Assmbly moved to released folder, now no references
RE: Assmbly moved to released folder, now no references
Did your assemblies and parts go from one folder during development to two or more folders for release? ie, c:/part1.sldprt, c:/part2.sldprt, c:/assy1.sldasm in development and c:/released parts/part1.sldprt, c:/released parts/part2.sldprt, c:/released assys/assy1.sldasm.
if this is the case, and you used windows explorer to move the files, solidworks will not be able to find the parts when the released assy is opened.
google "soldiworks explorer"
and google "solidworks search routine"
now, to actually answer your question, there is a box in tools->options->file locations->external references where you can add all of your released folders. solidworks will search there when it doesn't find a part in the same folder as the assembly.
RE: Assmbly moved to released folder, now no references
RE: Assmbly moved to released folder, now no references
RE: Assmbly moved to released folder, now no references
CBL's suggestion to look into the newly added/improved capabilities of SWX Explorer is your best bet short of using a PDM system. But wait, what level of SWX are you using? SWX Premium and Professional, the mid and top-level systems, include Workgroup PDM. It may not be the ultimate system, but it sure has lot of advantanges over trying to manage the files and revisions manually. You might very well have a better solution available and resident on your system already.
- - -Updraft