Preventing Balloon Renumbering by Locking Balloons

Prevent Automatic Renumbering lets you add or remove balloons without affecting the arrangement and numbering of the balloons that remain.

When you revise a SOLIDWORKS Inspection project by deleting or adding characteristics and then refresh it, by default the software renumbers the balloons in the document. If you specified a clockwise or counterclockwise sort order, when the balloons are renumbered, that order is maintained.

For example, if you remove the characteristic that is represented by balloon 3, the next sequential characteristic is renumbered to balloon 3. Depending on the version of the inspection report, the features to measure are different. This can create confusion and lead to costly mistakes.

Original balloon numbering
Balloons renumbered after removing characteristic 3

You can override this behavior by using Prevent Automatic Renumbering. When to use prevent automatic renumbering:

  • If you remove a balloon, its number is removed from the sequence without affecting the other balloon numbers.
  • If you add new characteristics, they are added at the end of the balloon number sequence.

To prevent balloon renumbering:

  1. Click New Inspection Project (SOLIDWORKS Inspection CommandManager).
  2. Select a project template.
  3. On the General Settings page, under Characteristic Info, select Prevent Automatic Renumbering and click .
  4. To remove a balloon, do one of the following:
    • In the Characteristic Tree, select the balloon. Under Properties, clear the Selected check box.

      The characteristic is no longer selected for inspection; however, the balloon number remains associated with the characteristic.

      If you use this method, you can restore the balloon if needed by re-selecting the check box.
    • In the graphics area, delete the characteristic that is associated with the balloon, then click Update Inspection Project .

    The software removes the balloon number from the sequence, while maintaining the original numbering of the remaining balloons.

    Original balloon numbering maintained