The following rules apply to item generation.
- An item can be auto-updated by at most one file.
- A file can auto update any number of items.
- File-to-item property mappings in the item data card are used to populate item properties. These mappings are defined by your administrator.
- Links to CAD (part or assembly) files have auto update enabled by default.
- For item generation of CAD files with one or more drawings, Item Explorer shows the drawings as higher-level dependencies and creates non-auto-update links from the assembly or part item.
- Automatic generation of items from non-CAD files follows the same rules as CAD files except that links are not auto-update by default.
- If you select a CAD file for item generation and an item already exists for the file, Item Explorer does not create a new item by default. You can link to the existing item or create a new item.
- If the existing item already has an auto-update link, Item Explorer creates a link with auto update disabled.
- If the existing item does not already have an auto-update link, Item Explorer creates a link with auto update enabled by default, which you can override.
- To link and item or file to an existing item, the item must be checked out. Item Explorer attempts to do this automatically if it is not already checked out. If the check-out fails, Item Explorer creates no association for that item. The rest of the operation continues.
- If you select a CAD file with configurations, you can create items for one or more configurations, or you can create an item for the file independent of configurations.
- Item Explorer does not generate items for assembly components and file references that are excluded from the SOLIDWORKS BOM.