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drawings lost models

Question asked by Don Aldridge on Oct 17, 2017
Latest reply on Oct 18, 2017 by Edward Poole

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In the past when I would move a model to a different folder or rename a model I always had a "browse for file" option that would let me go to the new folder or renamed model to update the drawing, somehow I have lost that option. Now when I open the drawing of a moved or renamed part I get a drawing with the parts X'ed out and no option for browsing for the model. The odd thing is when I look at the drawing as a thumbnail it shows all the parts, but when I open it the parts disappear.

There has to be a setting I accidently clicked off but I sure can't find it. Guidance please!

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Adam Humphries Oct 17, 2017 11:49 AM
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Hi Don,

the message has probably been dismissed

if you go to tools and options>

and then tick on the messages in the red box above and reopen the part it should then prompt you to browse for the file.

Another option is to select the missing part and un suppress which should also prompt you to browse to missing part

thanks

Adam
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Tony Cantrell Oct 17, 2017 11:50 AM
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try this
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- Don Aldridge @ Tony Cantrell on Oct 17, 2017 12:45 PM
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  Both the options work for a currently opened drawing, thank you. What I want is for an automatic prompt to "browse for file" anytime I open a drawing that has lost it's relation to the model because of being moved or renamed. That's how it use to work for me and I don't understand why that changed.
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  - Dan Pihlaja @ Don Aldridge on Oct 17, 2017 3:52 PM
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    Don Aldridge wrote:
    
    Both the options work for a currently opened drawing, thank you. What I want is for an automatic prompt to "browse for file" anytime I open a drawing that has lost it's relation to the model because of being moved or renamed. That's how it use to work for me and I don't understand why that changed.
    You said that both options worked (I am assuming you mean the answer from Adam and the answer from Tony).
    
    Does this mean that you did Adam's suggestion and it worked only once? And then not again? This doesn't make sense.
    Did you recheck the "Do not show again" after that one time?
    
    The items that show up in the area that Adam suggested appear there after you check the "Do not show again" message on any pop up. If you accidentally checked it and want it to pop up again, then check here and it clears the "Do not show again" message.
    
    This would make more sense if Adam's suggestion didn't work for you.
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Eric Blankinship Oct 17, 2017 2:04 PM
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In the future, if you want to re-name files but don't want to have to re-associate the files afterwards, you can use the "Pack & Go" Feature and then use the "Save to Name" column to adjust the file name. This way all your references will stay intact but you can change the file name as you please.

Edit: If you don't want to have to deal with saving the files to a new location, deleting the old ones, and pasting them back into their original location another option is to use the rename option in SolidWorks Explorer as this can work while the file is closed. It's a bit more tedious to get to the rename feature though
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- Roger Ikonen @ Eric Blankinship on Oct 17, 2017 2:59 PM
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  or use solidworks explorer when moving them
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  - Edward Poole @ Roger Ikonen on Oct 17, 2017 3:38 PM
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    SolidWorks Explorer is typically the preferred way of moving/renaming files.
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Redecos Technologies Oct 17, 2017 2:53 PM
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I had the same issue when updated to SW2017 SP4.0, Once I moved to SW2018 PR1 the "browse for file" option came back.. ;-)
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Don Aldridge Oct 18, 2017 8:34 AM
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The stars all lined up today and SW is back to normal ! I think Adams suggestion is what fixed it, even though initially the fix only seemed to work per drawing, I didn't get the automatic prompt to search for files, today it's back to prompting me automatically. Maybe had something to do with shutting down and restarting SolidWorks overnight, like it took a restart to save settings.

It works...I'm happy.

Thanks for the help!
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Edward Poole Oct 18, 2017 9:42 AM
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Now that everything is working correctly, do yourself a favor and do a "Save Settings" from the start menu>SOLIDWORKS 20XX>SOLIDWORKS Tools>Save Settings. That way you can at least restore in the future. I'd save to a network location if possible, and save a couple times a year just so you have up-to-date settings.
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drawings lost models

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