Breaking up a monster document

bill_daniels

My project document has grown far too large.  Fortunately, it can logically be broken into four documents - master assembly and three sub-assemblies - but just how to do that without ruining relationships is baffling me.  There are many sub-sub-assemblies some of which are used multiple times.  Of course, there are many parts used in multiple assemblies.  Moving an assembly to a new document drags along all the part tabs which are used in other assemblies.   Drawings are yet another issue.

Any tips and tricks to offer?

abefeldman

The good news is that Onshape will automatically maintain all of your relationships! In our database, it doesn't matter what document, folder or subassembly a part is in, we're always going to point to the part you inserted no matter where you move it to, and we'll create versions in any new documents you create to automatically link to the correct part or subassembly.

That being said, taking a bunch of interrelated parts and assemblies and breaking them down is definitely a daunting process, so @philip_thomaswrote a fairly comprehensive article about it in the learning center. Check it out here: https://learn.onshape.com/learn/article/product-structure-organization-tips

Drawings are definitely an issue and we typically recommend you move parts first, which will automatically link the drawing to a version, and then you can move the drawing to the same document as the part. Let us know if that makes sense.

bill_daniels

abefeldman, that's good advice. 

How about making three copies of the document, then deleting tabs which aren't needed for each copy?  I guess that depends on whether links and relationships are created when a document is copied.