Bill of Materials Editor

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. To edit a BOM cell:
   • Select the BOM cell and type a new value.
   • Double-click the BOM cell.
   • Select the BOM cell and press Enter on your keyboard.
   NoteA single click and a BOM cell selects the component and highlights it in the browser and graphic window.
3. To copy a BOM cell, right-click the cell and select Copy. Then right-click the destination cell and select Paste. (Alternate method: Use CTRL+C and CTRL+V hot keys). Copying preserves BOM expressions.
4. To find (or replace) a string in the BOM table, right-click and select (or Replace). Then set options in the Find and Replace dialog box and click Find (or Replace).
5. To capitalize text in the selected cell in the BOM table, right-click the cell and click Capitalize.

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. In the BOM table, select the data to edit in Microsoft Excel. Create a contiguous or non-contiguous multi-selection.
3. Right-click the multi-selection and select Copy.
   NoteKeep the selection set unchanged in the BOM table while working in Microsoft Excel.
4. Open a Microsoft Excel file and paste the data on a sheet. A non-contiguous selection set is pasted as contiguous.
5. Edit the data.
6. Select the data and copy them to the clipboard. The selection must be identical as the selection set previously imported to Microsoft Excel.
7. Right-click the original selection in the BOM table and click Paste. The edited data are copied to the appropriate BOM cells.

Selection sets are saved for particular BOM views and for collapsed subassemblies. Only the visible selection is taken into account in BOM operations.

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. Create a multi-selection in the BOM table. Use the SHIFT or CTRL key on your keyboard to create contiguous or non-contiguous selection sets.
3. To copy selected cells, right-click the multi-selection and select Copy, or click CTRL+C on your keyboard.
4. To paste the data, right-click a BOM cell and select Paste, or click CTRL+V on your keyboard. A non-contiguous selection is pasted as contiguous.
   TipTo paste data to cells in a non-contiguous selection, create the non-contiguous selection set of the same size as the copied data. Right-click it, and select Paste.
5. To capitalize letters in a BOM selection, create the selection, right-click it and select Capitalize from the menu.
6. To replace a string in a BOM selection, create the selection, right-click, and select Replace. Then set the options in the Find and Replace dialog box and click Replace All.
7. If a selection contains a single row (or a single column), drag the grip point in the bottom right corner of the selection to expand it. Values from the selected row (column) are copied to the expanded rows (columns).

Notes:

• If a non-contiguous selection set exists and you click a column heading, the previously selected BOM items are highlighted in the selected column. Other selections are canceled.
• If you sort rows in BOM and a selection set exists, the selection set is kept after you apply the sort.

BOM column customization is saved in the assembly file. Each assembly can display different columns in each view of the Bill of Materials dialog box. If you customize BOM columns in an assembly template, all files created from this template respect the same BOM customization.

Add or remove BOM columns

1. In the Bill of Materials dialog box, click Choose Columns .
2. To add a column, select the column on the Customization panel, and drag and drop it to the desired position in the BOM table.
3. To remove a BOM column, select the column heading in the BOM table, and drag and drop it to the Customization panel.

Change the order of BOM columns

In the Bill of Materials dialog box, select a column heading in the BOM table, and drag and drop it to the desired position.

Resize columns

• Select and Drag: Select the divider between column headers and drag it to resize the column.
• Double Click: Double-click the divider between column headers. The column to the left of the divider is resized to fit the contents of the cells in that column.
• Best Fit Column: Right-click a column header, and select Best Fit from the menu. The column is resized the same way as the double-click method.
• Best Fit All Columns: Right-click a column header and selects Best Fit (All Columns). All visible columns are resized.

Export BOM customization

1. In the Bill of Materials dialog box, customize the BOM columns, and then click Export.
2. In the Export BOM Customization dialog box, set the folder to export the .xml file to, enter the file name, and click Save. The customization file is saved in the specified folder.
3. To import the BOM customization, in the Bill of Materials dialog box, click Import.
4. In the Import BOM Customization dialog box, locate the customization .xml file, select it, and click Open. The BOM customization is imported and applied in the BOM.

To display thumbnails in the BOM, add the Thumbnail column to the BOM table.

1. In the Bill of Materials dialog box, click Choose Columns .
2. Select the Thumbnail column on the Customization panel, and drag and drop it to the desired position in the BOM table.

Notes:

• The Thumbnail column is by default included in the BOM in all new assembly templates. To display thumbnails in BOMs in legacy assemblies, you must add the Thumbnail column to the BOMs manually. Or, you can create a BOM customization that includes the Thumbnail column and import the BOM customization to BOMs in legacy assemblies.
• The Thumbnail column displays all available thumbnail images for components listed in the BOM. If the thumbnail image does not exist, Preview not Available is displayed in the Thumbnail column.
• The preview image is not available for a component if:

  The component is not saved.

  The Save Preview Picture option is not selected in the Properties dialog box of the component.

Change the Structured Properties view:

1. In the Bill of Material editor dialog box, click the Structured tab.
2. Click the View Options down-arrow and select View Properties.
3. In the Structured Properties dialog box make the appropriate selections.

Change the Parts Only Properties view:

1. In the Bill of Material editor dialog box, click the Parts Only tab.
2. Click the View Options down-arrow and select View Properties.
3. In the Structured Properties dialog box make the appropriate selections.

Mass and volume are not automatically updated in the BOM. If the mass (or volume) has not been calculated for an item in the BOM, the mass (or volume) cell displays N/A.

You can update the mass and volume properties in the BOM editor manually:

On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials. The Bill of Materials dialog box is displayed Click Update mass properties of all rows to calculate the mass and volume for all items in the BOM.

You can sort BOM items using the values in one or more BOM columns.

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. In the Bill of Materials dialog box, click Sort.
3. In the Sort Parts List dialog box, select the first column to sort by and the sort order for that column. Set the secondary and tertiary columns to use for sorting.
4. If desired, after sorting rows in the table, click Renumber to renumber rows according to the new order.

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. Click the Structured tab.
3. Click Part Number Row Merge Settings on the toolbar.
4. To prevent rows from being merged based on part number, cancel the selection of Enable Row Merge on Part Number.
5. To specify a part number to exclude from merging, click New, and enter the desired information in the text box.

1. In the Bill of Materials dialog box, click a cell in the BOM Structure column.
2. Select a new BOM Structure value from the list.

To change the Unit Quantity for a component, edit Base Quantity and Base Unit.

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. If the Base Quantity or Base Unit column is not displayed in the table, click Choose Columns. Drag the column to the column header of the BOM table.
3. Click the Base Quantity cell to edit, and expand the Base Quantity list.
4. From the list, select a parameter to be used as the Base Quantity value.
5. Click the Base Unit cell to edit, and expand the Base Unit list.
6. From the list, select a unit to be used as the Base Unit value.

Use the following procedure to create a QTY override (to set up a Static Quantity for a component):

1. In the Bill of Materials dialog box, click a QTY cell to set as Static Quantity.
2. Enter the Static Quantity value.

iProperty expressions can be created for read/write text type iProperties. An expression contains a combination of custom texts and iProperty names in brackets (the edited iProperty cannot be included in the expression). The iProperty name is substituted by the iProperty value, when the expression is evaluated.

In the Bill of Materials dialog box, select the cell where you want to create an expression. Click Create Expression. In the Property Expression dialog box, create the expression: To insert a property, select a property in the Property list, and click Insert Property. To insert a string, in the Expression field, place the cursor at the desired position and type the string. Click OK to close the Property Expression dialog box. The evaluated value is displayed in the BOM table cell, and the expression is displayed in the Formula toolbar.

You can edit the Stock Number property either in the Bill of Materials dialog box, or in the Properties dialog box.

To edit the Stock Number for several components at the same time:

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials. The Bill of Materials dialog box is displayed.
2. If the Stock Number column is not displayed in the table, click Choose Columns from the toolbar. Drag the Stock Number column from the Customization box to the column header of the table.
3. In the Stock Number column, edit the values.
4. Click Done to close the Bill of Materials dialog box.

The availability of a Material is based on component type. If the selection contains a mix of parts (for example, assemblies and weldments), the change is only applied to the component type of the edited cell.

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. Right-click on a column, and select Runtime Column Customization.
3. In the Customization dialog box, drag and drop Material onto a column.
4. Click in the desired cell, and enter a Material name.

NoteYou can assign a material style to a Virtual Component. Click Tools tabOptions panelDocument Settings Standard tab to change the default material style for a virtual component.

Adding a custom iProperty adds the new values to the Custom tab in the corresponding iProperties dialog box.

A bill of materials can contain columns for any iProperties defined for the assembly components. You can add or remove columns from the bill of materials.

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials. The Bill of Materials dialog box is displayed.
2. To add or remove BOM columns, click Choose Columns on the toolbar.
3. To add a column to the table, in the Customization dialog box, select a column. Drag the column and drop it to the desired position in the BOM table.
4. To remove a column from the table, select the column in the table. Drag the column to the Customization dialog box.

Right-click a custom iProperty column and select Add Custom iProperty (all components) to add the property to all read/write parts in the column.

You can export a bill of materials to an external database, spreadsheet, or text file.

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. In the Bill of Materials dialog box, click Export Bill of Materials.
3. In the Export Bill of Materials dialog box, select the BOM view to export. If you select the Structured view, select the data to export.
4. Choose OK to close the Export Bill of Materials dialog box.
5. In the BOM Export dialog box, enter the file name, table name, select the type of file to export, and then click Save.

You can add the bill of materials to the notes in the Engineer's Notebook. The table is added as a note window that links to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. In the Bill of Materials dialog box, click Engineer's Notebook.
3. In the Insert into Engineer's Notebook dialog box, select the BOM view to export. If you select the Structured view, select the data to export.
4. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Unit Quantity (Unit QTY) is the amount which each discrete instance of a component adds to the total quantity. Components that are quantified by the number of instances of the component have a Unit Quantity of Each. Components that are quantified based on some physical aspect of the component (such as wires, grease, cut-length steel, tubes and pipes, and so on) have a Unit Quantity derived from a parameter.

Unit Quantity is composed of two properties: Base Quantity and Base Unit. Base Quantity is the parameter that is the raw value for Unit Quantity. By default, the Base Quantity of a component is Each. Base Unit is the unit that Unit Quantity is expressed in.

To set up the Unit Quantity for a component:

1. Open the Document Settings dialog box for the component.
2. In the Bill of Materials tab, expand the Base Quantity list.
3. From the list, select a parameter to be used as the Base Quantity, and click OK.
   TipTo edit or add a parameter, click Edit Parameter next to the Base Quantity option.
4. Expand the Base Unit list, select the Base Unit, and click OK.
5. In the Document Settings dialog box, click OK.

Total Quantity (QTY) is the Unit Quantity multiplied by the Item Quantity. Total QTY can be overridden to a static value. Static Quantity is saved with the component definition. A single static quantity cannot override Total Quantity of two component definitions.

If the Unit Quantity of the component is Each the Static Quantity must be an integer value including zero. Items with a Zero Quantity still show up in a parts list.

To set up the Static Quantity for a component:

1. On the ribbon, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials.
2. In the Bill of Materials dialog box, click a QTY cell to set as Static Quantity.
3. Enter the Static Quantity value.

1. With an assembly open, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials on the ribbon. The Bill of Materials dialog box displays.
2. To highlight components (parts or subassemblies) from BOM, select one or more BOM rows. The corresponding components are highlighted in the graphic window and in the assembly browser.
3. To highlight BOM rows for components selected in the assembly browser or graphic window, select the components to highlight.

Use the Open command to open a part or assembly file from the Bill of Materials dialog box. The Open command is available in the right-click menu for a selected (highlighted) component in the BOM table.

1. With an assembly open, click Assemble tabManage panelBill of Materials on the ribbon. The Bill of Materials dialog box displays.
2. Select a BOM row, or select a component in the assembly browser or graphic window to highlight a BOM row.
3. Right-click the row header or a cell in the BOM table, and select Open from the menu. The Bill of Material dialog box closes and the component file opens.