Managing Configuration Data

For part and assembly models containing configurations, you can manage the size of files and the time required to save them.

You can use the Rebuild on Save mark to specify the configurations to keep up-to-date. You can purge cached configuration data every time you save the model.

If you have never activated a configuration such as one defined in a design table, the model carries only the essential defining data about the configuration. When you activate a configuration for the first time, the full definition of the configuration’s model data is generated. This full data set updates and saves every time you save the document. By default, after the full data set is generated, the set remains available every time you open the model.

Having the full data set available for a configuration can save a significant amount of time when switching configurations. However, for each configuration that you activate, the file size of the model increases, as does the time required to rebuild and save the file.

In Large Design Review mode, you can use the Display Data mark to specify which configurations are accessible when you view a model. Users can access the configuration by storing the Display List graphics data. For each marked configuration, the file size increases as the model stores the Display List graphics data for the configuration.

The following icons appear next to the configurations in the ConfigurationManager:
Active Configuration Inactive Configurations Description
Indicates a configuration for which a full, up-to-date data set exists.
Rebuild on Save Mark. Indicates a configuration that generates a full data set the next time you save the document. Then, the data rebuilds and saves every time you save the document.

To clear a configuration, right-click the configuration and select Remove Rebuild on Save Mark. If the Display Data Mark is not selected, the icon changes to or depending on the current state of the configuration data.

Display Data Mark. Indicates a configuration that generates the display list the next time you save the document. Then, the display list rebuilds and saves every time you save the document.

Saving the display list allows you to view different configurations of the model in Large Design Review mode.

To clear a configuration, right-click the configuration and select Remove Display Data Mark. If the Rebuild on Save Mark is not selected, the icon changes to or depending on the current state of the configuration data.

  Indicates a configuration for which a full data set is out-of-date or does not exist.

When you open the model in Service Pack 5 of the previous release of SOLIDWORKS:

  • Configurations marked with the Rebuild on Save mark are available.
  • Configurations without the mark are not available.