Bill of Materials - Custom Properties

Applies to Excel-based Bills of Materials.

You can add more information such as Material, Vendor_Number, Cost, and so on to the open part or subassembly document by clicking File > Properties and selecting the Custom tab or the Configurations specific tab. (See Summary Info - Custom and Configuration Specific for information about specifying properties.)

SOLIDWORKS provides several templates for bills of materials in the directory <install_dir>\solidworks\lang\<language>. Columns in the templates are populated automatically as follows:
Property Automatically populates

ITEM NO.

QTY.

PART No.

DESCRIPTION

 In all templates supplied

MATERIAL

STOCK SIZE

VENDOR

WEIGHT

1) When the column appears in the selected template, and

2) you add the property to the Custom or Configuration Specific information in the part or assembly document

custom properties

1) When you add a custom column to a BOM or template, and

2) you add the property to the Custom or Configuration Specific information in the part or assembly document

Custom properties can include model dimensions and mass properties, which update automatically in the BOM if they are changed in the model.

Adding Custom Columns to a Bill of Materials

To add custom columns to the bill of materials:

  1. Open the BOM template file. To add the columns to the default BOM template, open <install_dir>\solidworks\lang\<language>\Bomtemp.xls.
    To create a new BOM template, it is a good idea to make a copy of the default template, then open the copy.
  2. Insert a new column where you want the information to appear. The new column must be to the left of the column marked $$END.
  3. Enter the column heading for the property you want to display in that column, and press Enter. The name appears in the Formula Bar in the Microsoft Excel toolbar. This column heading does not need to match the custom property name.
  4. Click the cell to select it.
  5. In the Name Box, type the name of the property that you want to appear in this column. This cell name replaces the default alphanumeric cell name that appears in the Name Box in the Microsoft Excel toolbar whenever you click a cell. This name must match the name of the property from the part or subassembly document, and must not contain any spaces.

    When you add a bill of materials to a drawing, it now includes the added column. The cells are populated with the values of the custom properties of the document, or the values of the configuration specific properties for the item.
    Do not change the cell names in the Name Box for the default columns in the BOM template. You can change the text in the column heading, but not the cell name.
  6. Save the Microsoft Excel file.