Detached Drawings Equivalent in Inventor

[Anonymous]

Sorry, but I'm a core SW user that uses Inventor from time to time. There is a function in SW where you can do a save as detached drawing. That way you can send just the drawing to someone without having the models tag along as an external reference. Basically it freezes the line drawing into an Inventor drawing file format. Is there an easy way you can do this? You're probably going to ask why and if you're going edit it as 2D why not just export it over to use in AutoCad. Well that's what I would do, but this is a customer request. Maybe because they want to use the drafting tools and formats already in Inventor.

[Cadmanto]

If you save the .idw out as an Autocad .dwg file, it will come into their Inventor (as long as the versions are the same) as you are describing.

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[Anonymous]

I did that and got an error when trying to open it.  "Cannot open template: C:\WORK\Templates\Standard.idw.  A valid Inventor drawing template is required to open AutoCAD DWG files (*dwg)."  So am I getting this becuase I'm tyring to open it back on my machine with the current project file?

[Cadmanto]

I used to do this all the time at my old place.  Calling up Autocad drawings up in Inventor and no template was needed.

Are you doing a file saves as copy to an Inventor .dwg or Autocad .dwg?

I would do the Autocad .dwg.  Call it up in Autocad, save it, then open it back up in Inventor.

If this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudos are appreciated. Thanks!!!! 

     

[Anonymous]

Saving them in ACAD format hence the error I'm getting.  Even tried a re-save to different versions and dxf.  So I just gave it what it was asking for from the error.  I copied the template file that was used to make the drawing and re-named it "Standard.idw" and put it in the C:\Work folder it was looking in.  Good new it did open it.  Bad news is Inventor treats it nothing more than a viewer inside Inventor with a Review tab that shows up in the ribbon.  All the annotation tools are grayed out because it still dosen't recognize it as a drawing sheet.

My best guess is that you just can't do it in Inventor like you can in SolidWorks.  Mainly because when you buy Inventor they bundle ACAD with it anyway.

[Anonymous]

Just a quick FYI too.  I did try to open the dwg and select "Import" as my option.  So it kind of came in more editable.  I say kind of because it imported in like a train wreck.  Things were thrown around in comparison from the original Inventor drawing format.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! If I understand the request correctly, I think you are looking for "Defer Updates." Simply open the idw file and save it as a different name. Then go to Tools -> Document Settings -> Drawing -> check "Defer Updates" and save.

Now the idw file becomes somewhat "detached" to the source assembly. Some of the annnotation commands (requiring assembly level data) may not be available in this state. But, most of them should work just fine. Let me know if it works for you.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

John

It works but with a caveat.  When opening the file it is still trying to look for the part. So I have to say skip on it.  And then it barks at me about the defered updates everytime I open it.  But overall the views still come in as long as the checkbox remains.  I assume this is the best I'm going to get?