Have you ever opened an assembly file in SOLIDWORKS and components you have changed the name of in File Explorer are still referring to the original name of the file in the Feature Manager or Design Tree? Let’s show you how to fix the issue of renamed or replaced names not updating.
This is a common issue when working with Assemblies. To test if this is the issue you are experiencing, you could follow the instructions below to see if you can reproduce the issue.
- Open an assembly in SOLIDWORKS and verify the component names of the parts in the tree.
- Once you have captured the names of the components select one of the parts you would like to rename.
- Close the assembly.
- In File Explorer
- Find the part you are seeking to rename.
- Rename the component.
- Re-open the assembly in SOLIDWORKS.
- Verify whether the filename has been updated.
- If the name has been updated, SOLIDWORKS is set to update component names when documents are replaced.
- For those instances that the name is referring to the previous name.
- You will need to enable the Update component names when documents are replaced.
In order to enable this preference, you will need to follow the instructions below:
This happens when the “Update component names when documents are replaced” option has not been enabled. The image below will help establish an understanding of the option’s location.
The setting can be found by opening SOLIDWORKS. Click on ‘Tools’ > ‘Options’ > ‘External References’ from the list. Under the Assemblies area you will see ‘Update component names when documents are replaced’ click the check box to enable as seen in the image below. Please note that the name may not update immediately and may require that the assembly be closed and reopened.
After enabling this setting, you will want to close SOLIDWORKS to ensure that the option is saved in settings.
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