You may have run into error messages when attempting to copy a Bill of Materials in SOLIDWORKS. In this article, we will cover current limitations and workarounds by answering these four questions:

1. Can I move a SOLIDWORKS BOM from one Sheet to another in a SOLIDWORKS Drawing?
2. Can a SOLIDWORKS BOM be copied and pasted?
3. Can a SOLIDWORKS BOM made in an Assembly file be used on multiple Drawing Sheets?
4. How can I copy my SOLIDWORKS BOM from one Sheet to another?

Can I move a BOM from one Sheet to another in a SOLIDWORKS Drawing?

Yes. To move a Bill of Materials to a different Sheet, you can drag and drop the Bill of Materials feature in the FeatureManager Design Tree, being sure to “drop” it onto the Sheet where you wish to move it to.

Can a BOM be copied and pasted?

Currently, this is not possible in SOLIDWORKS. In a SOLIDWORKS Drawing, BOMs are listed in the FeatureManager Design Tree on the left. If you select a Bill of Materials feature and right-click, you will notice there is no option to “Copy”. You may try to get around this by using the CTRL + C keyboard shortcut. You will be presented with a warning: “This item cannot be copied to the clipboard.”

Can a BOM made in an Assembly file be used on multiple Drawing Sheets?

Currently this is also not possible. A Bill of Material in SOLIDWORKS that originates from an Assembly file can only be copied once. The workflow looks like this:

1. In the Assembly File, Insert > Tables > Bill of Materials
2. Specify your BOM settings. After creation, this can be found in the Assembly Feature Tree in the “Tables” folder.
3. Create or Open the related Drawing File
4. Insert > Tables > Bill of Materials > Select the Drawing View of the Assembly
5. In the PropertyManager, you can “Create new table” or “Copy existing table”. From here, you can choose to copy the existing table from within the Assembly file, but this can only be done once for this BOM.

If you attempt to repeat this process on a different sheet to “Copy the existing table” from the Assembly again, you will receive the error: “There is already a Drawing BOM linked to this BOM. Only one Drawing BOM can be linked to an Assembly Bill of Materials.”

How can I copy my Bill of Materials in SOLIDWORKS from one Sheet to another?

A workaround is to Copy the entire Sheet containing the BOM, then either delete everything else from the copied Sheet, or Move the BOM from the copied Sheet onto another Sheet.

First, go to the Sheet that has the BOM you wish to copy. On the Sheet Name at the bottom of the screen, right click and Copy. Then, right-click in the same spot again and select Paste (or use CTRL + V on your keyboard). You will be prompted to choose where this new sheet gets Pasted, either before or after the selected Sheet, or at the end of all of your Sheets.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The copied BOM is NOT linked to the original. Therefore, changes made to the formatting or individual cells in the original BOM will not be propagated to the copied BOM on the separate sheet.

After you have copied the entire Sheet, you may now proceed one of two ways: 1) Delete any other Drawing Views, Notes, or Annotations leaving behind only the BOM. 2) Move the copied BOM by dragging and dropping the “Bill of Materials” feature onto a different Sheet in the FeatureManager Design Tree.