(This is a topic that could go in any number of locations in this forum, but I guess this is the best spot for it.)
Most users of this forum know the basics of the Part Number field used in bills of materials. You have three pretty simple options for controlling that column in your BOM:
- Use the "SW-File Name" property
- Use the custom or configuration specific tabs at File>Properties
- Control the "Part Number" variable through the Bill of Materials Options section of the Configuration Properties screen.
Any one of those options can be the best one to use, depending on a few factors ("do you use configurations?" "what's your filenaming scheme?" "how much manual input are you willing to tolerate?", etc). In my company's case, #3 is the best way to control our part number column (for reasons that might be boring to get into, but I can if prompted). However, unlike options 1 and 2, option #3 does not provide us with a PRP variable that we can use to link the Part Number with other data (most notably, Enterprise PDM, where linking variables to data cards is a lot easier when you can use PRP commands).
Whether you use "document name", "configuration name", "user specified name" or link to a parent configuration- SolidWorks must have a method for keeping track of the part number variable. Does anyone know how to recall that variable and so that it can be used in custom properties without having to manually enter it?
There was a similar discussion earlier, that didn't quite address this question, but is still worth looking through: