Hello. I have a question that in my review of the forum I didn't find this specific question asked (or at least I didn't search the right thing to find it). The question pertains to SolidWorks 2015 x64 SP 1.1. So here it goes:
I receive a lot of models from various suppliers and they usually provide them in .STEP or .IGES formats. Sometimes when I convert them, they come in as full models and very large assemblies. So here is the question: when I save the assembly for the first time, I want to have each model saved with a prefix in the actual file name. So, for instance I receive an assembly for a lavatory (for illustration purposes it only has 3 sub-components to the assembly). The tree looks like the following:
Lavatory_assy.sldasm (top level file)
..screw#10-32.sldprt (subcomponent)
..panel_ceiling.sldprt (subcomponent)
..panel_side.sldprt (subcomponent)
When I save this after conversion, I get 4 files named the above. But, what I want to save them as would have a prefix "Lav1_" in front of the 3 subcomponent files. Is there a way to do that? I work in AutoCAD Inventor too and it has that feature which is very handy.
The problem I run into is when I import several models into 1 large integration assembly model and they all have generic names like "screw#10-32" but the models all look different. When I put them all together in 1 model, SW tries to force the 2 same-named models to look/act like just one. this makes the large assy model not act right.
Right now, in order to add a prefix to the model names, I manually do it thru Windows File Explorer, remaning each and every file. Then I open the top assy file in SW and browse for each file and, when it brings up the browse file window, I rename each and every single file, until it finds all of them. it is a very laborious and intensive process, especially when I have models that have 300-600 files per top assembly and 5-8 total top assemblies that merge into my integration assembly.
Thoughts or suggestions or questions?
Save the files in a temporary folder. Now with assy open, do a Pack and Go and there you can generate the new files with required prefix/suffix. Once new files are created, you can delete the old files.