CAD Forum

I'm creating multiple drawing of different configurations of an assembly.
I'm changing the configuration of the assembly in the parent view and the BOM and doing a "save as" of the drawing.
I've checked in the assembly so PDM should be the latest but during the "save as" of the drawing, I'm continueally prompted to save the parts as it's sees them as modified?
I just cancel the part "save" because I haven't changed the parts and wait for the drawing to save.
This is VERY time consuming. Any suggestions/solutions?

I don't use PDM but here's my guess:

Your part is saved on a specific configuration and your configurations do not have the rebuild save mark(Don't advise to put it, it makes files heavier)

The drawing being on a different configuration, forces a change that is not "saved" to the file, and SolidWorks figures it should save after that.

Adding the rebuild save mark will remove the issue but might make the file heavier depending on the complexity of the file.

Bryan O wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:40 am I'm creating multiple drawing of different configurations of an assembly.
I'm changing the configuration of the assembly in the parent view and the BOM and doing a "save as" of the drawing.
I've checked in the assembly so PDM should be the latest but during the "save as" of the drawing, I'm continueally prompted to save the parts as it's sees them as modified?
I just cancel the part "save" because I haven't changed the parts and wait for the drawing to save.
This is VERY time consuming.
image.png

Any suggestions/solutions?

If you're changing the configuration you HAVE changed the part which is why it's asking if you want to save. Pretty much ANY change to the part including simply clicking on the config tab is considered a "Change".

M'er F'er!
OK. I understand.
So I'm assuming a "rebuild all configurations" and a "save" will solve this?

Bryan O wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:51 am M'er F'er!
OK. I understand.
So I'm assuming a "rebuild all configurations" and a "save" will solve this?

You'd have to try it, but I'm pretty sure you really need to add the rebuild save mark.

https://help.solidworks.com/2018/englis ... ONFIGS.htm

This is a configuration specific "feature" that should be added to ALL configurations?
Never used it but I'll give it a shot.

Like I said, it is something to use at your own risk.

Saving rebuild marks makes a file become "heavier". If the file is relatively simple, then there's no issue. Add some levels of complexity and you might have a file that triples in size, save time and load time.

I'd rather live with a pop-up that I can quickly skip then a part that takes a while to load, rebuild and save.

I just went through the same process with a co-worker on there computer and he DOE NOT get the prompts to save the components that I do.
Curious.

You will always get a prompt to save the part or assembly file that the drawing references when saving the drawing manually with "Save As".
I wrote a macro for creating the drawings at a previous company I worked for. It is custom made for the CAD standards that were used there but depending on how you structure your drawing creation with your company I would be happy to modify it for you.
Questions:
Is there only one model in the drawing?
Do you name the drawing after the configuration name or a custom property?
How many different BOM templates do you use for assemblies?
If using a macro is not what you are looking for, doing it manually does not hurt anything by just clicking cancel when asked to save the read-only documents. Just becomes a pain if you are creating a drawing for an assembly that has all the parts checked in. The other option would be to use Copy Tree to copy only the drawing using the new name. Then open it and do what you need to do.

1 assembly
Yes, name pulling from configuration name.
1 BOM templates.
With these settings I still get prompted to save parts and subs I have done the coping in PDM (renaming/change configuration and BOM) but I just find it tedious

"Just becomes a pain if you are creating a drawing for an assembly that has all the parts checked in"
This does not seem to be a problem on my co-works install. Might there be a PDM setting that I'm missing?
My save as doesn't pull up the data card while it does on my co-works.

The drawing that you have open when you perform the "Save As", is it checked in?
Is it checked in when your co-worker does it?

I tried it both checked in and from a checked out version.
No difference.

I'm sure you have probably tried it already but have you done a "Save as copy and open"
Does it produce the same behavior? I'm not using PDM at my current company so I can't test these methods myself.

I did not try it but just did.
Interesting. It did save but as a local copy (not added to vault) and it did NOT open it. Instead the original drawings stayed open.

The macro I wrote does the same thing. The workflow that it would take was:
Have your "template" drawing open
Save that drawing with the new name to C:\Temp\Temp SW Drawing
Close it
Move it to the correct folder in the vault
Open it
Allow the user to make any changes needed
Then they would click a "Proceed" button and it would process the next configuration that needed a drawing
If there were no more configurations needing a drawing, then it would close and we could pump out dozens of drawings this way in a few minutes

A few years back I used Task to generate some drawings. Might have to go back to that.
I'm still looking for a solution though.