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BOM Table Basic Functionality Missing?!?

S1monS1mon Member Posts: 2,321 PRO
I'm digging into the BOM view and discovering that there's some really really basic functionality which seems to be missing. Please tell me that I'm wrong about these:

  1. You can't copy a cell, you can only paste into one. Even Solidworks PDM does this, and it's far from the pinnacle of user experience.
  2. You can't select a range of cells to paste into, e.g. I want to fill in the Vendor property for a bunch of parts at once that are all the same.
  3. There's only a vertical scroll bar. No horizontal scroll bar exists, even if you have a bunch of columns.
Somehow when I was evaluating Onshape in the past it didn't occur to me that when I saw something that looks like a spreadsheet that I would not be able to do things that I could do in VisiCalc or Lotus 123, 40 years ago.

Do I need to get OpenBOM just to do this?
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Comments

  • S1monS1mon Member Posts: 2,321 PRO
    Ok, so I already figured out that with #1, you can click the cell, and then double-click the text in the cell, and then you can copy. It's still broken that I can't simply select a cell and copy the cell.
  • mthiesmeyermthiesmeyer Onshape Employees Posts: 115
    Hi @S1mon,

    Please create an improvement request, to the right, for better solutions to the issue you have mentioned above. In the meantime:

    2.) You can't select a range of cells to paste into, e.g. I want to fill in the Vendor property for a bunch of parts at once that are all the same.

    We do not support one-to-many value paste, but we do support many-to-many paste. Therefore, you can open any spreadsheet software, do your one-to-many cell paste, and then copy the whole column and paste it into your BOM table.

    3.) There's only a vertical scroll bar. No horizontal scroll bar exists, even if you have a bunch of columns.

    The horizontal scroll bar exists, but it is at the bottom of the table. If you do not have a magic mouse you will need to scroll to the bottom of the table, horizontally scroll, and then return to where you were. This should be improved such that the horizontal scroll bar is always at the bottom of the portion of the table that is visible.

    Best,

    Mike
  • S1monS1mon Member Posts: 2,321 PRO
    edited March 2022
    @mthiesmeyer

    I remembered the #2 work around from one of the training or tips/tricks videos that I went through. So I was able to solve that, but it's still a bit frustrating and clunky.

    On #3, it helps that there is a work-around, but having to scroll all the way to the bottom of a long parts list to find the horizontal scroll bar borders on a bug, not an improvement request. I did discover that the left/right arrows will scroll in the BOM table if it has focus. However, if you arrow all the way to the left, it wraps around to the right-most column, and gets stuck!!! Right arrow will wrap around continuously to the right. Up/down scrolling with the arrow keys has similar UX issues. It really seems like the testing of this functionality was very limited and not very discerning.

    If I want to use the scroll bar, if I'm at the top-left corner of the BOM and want to scroll to the top-right, I have to scroll to the bottom, scroll right, and then scroll back up to the top. If I'm some where in the middle of the list, it's even harder, because I have to scroll down, right, up and find my place again.

    I do use a Logitech MX Master 3 with a left/right scroll wheel. I almost never use that wheel, but it does "work" as your Magic-mouse comment suggests, but it is very lumpy scrolling with text flashing in the item column as it redraws. Again, a half solution for having a scroll bar that works like other applications.

    Since there's no locking of columns, I also have to scroll left/right to remind myself of which item I'm looking at.


    Overall, each of these issues has a work around, but when I - as a relatively new user of the BOM table who has staked my reputation on convincing my company to take a chance on Onshape - run into multiple UX roadblocks which seem like functionality is completely missing, it makes me regret my decision to go with Onshape. Maybe that seems extreme, but it's a real frustrating and depressing feeling. It should also be a reminder that little UX issues can add up.
  • Ethan_KingsleyEthan_Kingsley Member Posts: 3 PRO
    It's been over a year and a half...have there been any updates to getting the horizontal scroll bar always visible?
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