BOM cross-reference parts

dan_engerer

I like Onshape's new built-in BOM feature. And it's good that when you click on an item in the BOM, it highlights the part. But really, my prototype assemblers need it the other way around - so when they click on a part, it highlights in the BOM and they can know what part # it is, etc.

Do you know of any way to get this type of functionality? Because it's somewhat tedious to have to skim through the whole BOM to find the part of interest

Piotr_Smektała_VB

Well, I have the same problem right now, February 2020!

Is it still impossible to click on a part in assembly studio and have a highlighted row in OS BOM table?

john_mcclary

No, clicking a part does not highlight the BOM...

If you click a part it will highlight the part in the tree.
So if you add "Name" Column to the BOM then you can find it that way.

Piotr_Smektała_VB

@john_mcclary

Well, it's a little bit laborious in a table with about 1000 parts :-)

Or I'm missing something and there is a way to search in the BOM table?

I know that such an auto highlighting capability can use too much processing power, but an option in a right click menu as "Find in BOM" will be very useful.

Piotr_Smektała_VB

BTW,

I can not see any sort-by-column option in BOM either.

john_mcclary

I didn't say it was a good solution. But it is better than clicking each part in the BOM until you find your part highlighted in the model.

You may want to create an Improvement Request on the right -->

But what I typically do is rename each part like this "PartNumber - Description"
If you copy your BOM and paste it into a spreadsheet, then you can create a quick formula that combines your "description" and "partnumber" columns then paste it back into the BOM, that will rename all of your parts quickly. (probably 1-2 minutes for 1000 unique parts)

Then you can click the part and look at the part number in the tree instead of the BOM. It also helps to have the part names formatted that way for when you export step files for manufacturing.

Here's what mine looks like to set all of the properties in the Parts:


1: Paste raw BOM info into H5
2: Enter some partnumber info
3: Copy the columns you want to paste back into your Onshape BOM

Now when you click a part you will see :

john_mcclary

Piotr_Smektała_VB_ said:

BTW,

I can not see any sort-by-column option in BOM either.

BOM is sorted by the assembly tree order. Move parts around in your tree and your BOM will match

Piotr_Smektała_VB

Thanks @john_mcclary,

I appreciate that super explanatory example of a workaround. Yeap, that works well when you need only one or two properties form the BOM and you can include them in the part name. But, I would like to see all additional properties/columns of that clicked part ;-)

Once again, thank you very much John.

And definitely I'll go for a IR with that "Find in BOM" option ;-)

john_mcclary

post your IR here, I'll vote for it

Piotr_Smektała_VB

Here is IR connected to this topic:
https://forum.onshape.com/discussion/12972/bom-two-or-one-and-a-half-way-interaction-with-parts-in-assembly-studio

Please do not hesitate to vote up! ;-)

Len_Wanger

Finding parts in the BOM for a large assembly is painful. A trick that works for me in my browser: click on the BOM and use the browsers search function (ctrl-F) to search for the part number or a keyword. Note: if using a structured BOM view you need to expand the tree to find the item.