Community
Inventor Forum
Welcome to Autodesk’s Inventor Forums. Share your knowledge, ask questions, and explore popular Inventor topics.
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Associate inventor to step files.

27 REPLIES 27
Reply
Message 1 of 28
ozitag
4058 Views, 27 Replies

Associate inventor to step files.

Hi,
I was asked today by a colleague if there was a way to make inventor the default program for Step or .stp files. I tried to do it through windows explorer as well as the right click/open with in windows, but inventor doesn't come up as an option to open them, and when I browse to the inventor.exe it doesn't allow it to come into the list of programs to use. Is there some way to associate inventor to step files?
Thanks,
Ozitag
IV 2010
27 REPLIES 27
Message 2 of 28
mcgyvr
in reply to: ozitag

Works fine here (W7 64). Inventor.exe is located in the bin folder.. are you looking there?


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventor 2023 - Dell Precision 5570

Did you find this reply helpful ? If so please use the Accept Solution button below.
Maybe buy me a beer through Venmo @mcgyvr1269
Message 3 of 28
BMiller63
in reply to: ozitag

I have set my system up like that and it works as expected.
I'm running XP 64
Are you pointing it to the inventor.exe in the Bin folder?
What OS are you using?
Are you following these steps?:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307859
Message 4 of 28
Anonymous
in reply to: ozitag

Doing this would bypass the Import Options which may change from one
import to another. I don't see this as a good idea.
--
Dennis Jeffrey, Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert

Subscribe to the free "The Creative Inventor Magazine now available at:
http://teknigroup.com/CI-Subscribe-Login.asp
Message 5 of 28
BMiller63
in reply to: ozitag

In my case I import 99% of these files the same way, and it works great beacuse you can just double click, or choose Open in the file download box, from supplier web sites.

It uses the previously used option settings, when going this route.

In the 1% cases, I just use the manual open > options method.
Message 6 of 28
ozitag
in reply to: ozitag

All,
Yep, I did exactly as that Microsoft pages suggests. I'm using XP 32bit. When I browse to the Inventor.exe file in the bin folder it selects and then I press open and nothing happens. Inventor doesn't come in to the list, nor is it still selected so that when you click ok, it isn't selected.

Denis,
I realise this. I don't open .stp files this way (I open them from in Inventor), but this guys says that he downloads a lot of files from the one company, so you would expect that all the step files would be pretty much the same, and if there was a problem, then it would just be a matter of shutting that file and then opening it from inventor as I do. I can see both sides of the story.

Thanks for your help guys, although I still am at a loss as to why it isn't as simple as you guys have mentioned.
Ozitag.
IV 2010
Message 7 of 28
ozitag
in reply to: ozitag

As an update. I worked this out.

Windows explorer.
Tools, Folder Options.
File Types tab.
Delete .stp and .step.
New. Type stp and associate with Autodesk Inventor Assembly.
OK.
New. Type step and associate the same.
OK.
OK.
Done.

Ozitag.
IV 2010
Message 8 of 28
GustavStigsohn
in reply to: ozitag

Hello,

 

I'm having the same problem as ozitag. Is there a way to fix this? I'm running Vista Buisness 64-bit. I can't find out how to delete the STP-type in Vista.

Message 9 of 28
ravikmb5
in reply to: GustavStigsohn

Making Inventor as default program for Stepfiles is not an good idea

 

u can use free step file viewer

http://stpviewer.com/Download/

Please mark this response as Problem Solved if it answers your question.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ravi Kumar MB,
i7 860 Dell Studio XPS Win 7 64 bit 12 Gb RAM & HP Z220 SFF Workstation
Autodesk Inventor Certified professional 2016
Email: ravikmb5@gmail.com





Message 10 of 28
GustavStigsohn
in reply to: ravikmb5

Why is it not good to use it as the default program?

Message 11 of 28
ampster402
in reply to: GustavStigsohn

 


@GustavStigsohn wrote:

Why is it not good to use it as the default program?


reference what Dennis J. posted in this thread earlier.

 

It's not a good idea.

Message 12 of 28
jtylerbc
in reply to: GustavStigsohn

Mostly because it bypasses the point where you would select the "Options" button during an import.  This is a particular problem when importing assemblies, because it takes away your chance to set the save file path for the parts.  This causes them to dump into the root of your workspace, potentially making a mess if importing an assembly file with many parts.  There are other settings for special situations or problem files that you would miss the chance to use as well.

 

I had a computer at my previous job on which I had accidentally associated STEP files to Inventor (I used "Open With", and forgot to uncheck the "Always Use . . ." box.  If I knew I was opening a single part, it wasn't that big of a deal.  Since I transferred a lot of single parts from an old legacy system using STEP, I left the association in place.  I just had to remember to go through the File-Open-STEP procedure when I knew I was importing an assembly.

 

More than once I was importing what I thought was a single part, but turned out to be an assembly.  Or I would just simply forget.  The results were often messy, dumping (in some cases) several hundred part files into the root of a shared network file structure where our models were stored.

 

Depending on what you're doing, you might be able to get away with it.  In general, I would agree with the others that it's not a good practice.

Message 13 of 28
GustavStigsohn
in reply to: jtylerbc

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't had the problem you described when I used Inventor 2011. Anyways, I will try STPViewer, it will probably do.

 

Thanks!

Message 14 of 28
bob_holland
in reply to: ozitag

 
Inventor is not designed to be able to double click on a file in windows and have Inventor start and load that file.
It does not know what project to associate it with.
 
 

 


Bob Holland
Autodesk Product Support
Message 15 of 28
JDMather
in reply to: bob_holland

Bob,

You are opening yourself up to critics - does it normally take Autodesk 3 yrs to respond to a customer?  Smiley LOL


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2019 Certified Professional
Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Certified Professional
Certified SolidWorks Professional


The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel


EESignature

Message 16 of 28
rclark
in reply to: mcgyvr

Hello,

 

Having the same issue in Inventor 2016.

OS is Win 7 Pro SP1 64-bit

 

I've located the Inventor.exe file in the bin folder, checked its properties to ensure it's the 2016 version, but when I select it it appears in the program list as the 2015 version.

What exactly have Autodesk done to screw up the Windows file association so much? This problem has been going on for 7 versions of the software by this thread alone....

Message 17 of 28
rclark
in reply to: bob_holland

Seriously?

Unlike every other piece of software I have ever used then, since Windows 3...?!

I'm sorry, but that's a ridiculous answer.

 

I had a similar problem once when checking out files from the Vault - it would open the wrong version of Inventor. Autodesk's response was that I shouldn't be doing it that way - I should be checking out from within Inventor.

Pointing out to them that the Vault help file itself described the method I was trying as valid didn't seem to change their mind on this.

 

Autodesk seem to have an interesting definition of the term 'Product Support' these days. And all for the privilege of thousands of pounds worth of investment in the software and support contracts.

Absolutely disgusting.

 

Message 18 of 28
ampster402
in reply to: rclark

"What exactly have Autodesk done to screw up the Windows file association so much?" "Inventor is not designed to be able to double click on a file in windows and have Inventor start and load that file. It does not know what project to associate it with." <----common knowledge. For all CAD apps we support, we do not support double-clicking on a file to launch the respective CAD app. It is known the app will not load the way it's been configured to work. SInce Adesk has designed the software not to be used in this fashion - has anything changed between the time they made that statement to now? Why expect change? Using CAD software requires a good amount of discipline/control if you expect it to work as efficiently as possible. Work with the flow, not against it. 0.02 cents worth.
Message 19 of 28
rclark
in reply to: ampster402

 

"Why expect change?"

Well, you hit the nail on the head there.

 

And as for 'common knowledge', well I would dispute your rather patronising response there. Besides, my remark about Autodesk Support contradicting their own online help files is still valid in terms of some of the responses I have received, so you'll forgive the slightly aggitated tone of my posts.

 

It's just that when you pay thousands of pounds for software, and thousands of pounds for support, you don't expect to be brushed-off.

 

As a suggestion, perhaps the issue of file association and booting the software via double-clicking files might like to be addressed, so that it behaves like the overwhelming majority of every other piece of software created since about 1990.

Message 20 of 28
SBix26
in reply to: rclark

"The overwhelming majority of every other piece of software" don't simultaneously open hundreds or thousands of linked files and display them all in a graphical form that makes them easily understandable and accessible to the user.

 

What you're asking may be doable and would be nice to have, but your argument that this particular application should follow the majority just because they are a majority is not logical.  The way this particular application operates may make it unable to work that way.

 

A different example: most applications (including Inventor), when you open a file, display the contents of that file-- but it's not reasonable to demand that every application do so. Remote Desktop Connection, for example, displays the remote desktop that I am connecting to, not the file that I double clicked on.  If I want to display/edit the RDC file, I have to access it in a different way.  Things work differently in different applications because they are for different purposes.

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2016 Update 2
Vault Basic 2016
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1

Can't find what you're looking for? Ask the community or share your knowledge.

Post to forums  

Autodesk Design & Make Report