Configuring Items

You can use the default settings for items or configure them as needed.

All configuration steps are optional.

To configure items:

  1. Change the format of the default Item Number serial number, or create a new serial number to use as the item ID generator.
  2. Configure how to generate item IDs and descriptive names:
    1. Double-click Items.
    2. In the Configure Items dialog box, on the Item ID page, select an Item Serial Number.
    3. To create item IDs from a file data card variable, select an Item ID Variable.
    4. On the Descriptive Name page, select a variable to use as the Descriptive Name.
    5. Click OK.
  3. Enable item generation for additional file types. See Setting File Type Properties.

    Item generation is enabled by default for CAD file types.

  4. Modify the default item card or create new item cards.
  5. Create folder data cards for item folders.
  6. Modify the default item search cards or create new search cards.
  7. Modify the default Item BOM column set or create a new template. See Creating Bill of Materials Templates(For SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional only).
  8. Add the Associated Item column to File Explorer so that users can see what items (if any) link to the file. See Creating a File List Column Set.
  9. Enable the import of variable data for existing items from an ERP system:
    1. Create an XML file that links the variable values to item attributes.
    2. Add a transition action to trigger the import of the variable data.
  10. Perform other setup operations as you would for files, such as setting folder permissions, defining categories, and creating revision numbers and workflows.
    The following features do not support items:
    • Columns - You cannot customize Item Explorer columns.
    • Templates - You cannot use templates to create items or item folders.