Break Link Between Copied and Pasted Components

[Anonymous]

I have copied and pasted a component. When I make changes to one of the components it makes the same changes automatically to the other. In a previous thread I saw something about pasting new or making independent, but I cannot find those command in the Fusion 360 version that I am using (startup licience). Any other suggestions?

[taylor.stein · Accepted solution]

Hi Don,

Great question - once you've pasted a component, I don't believe it's possible to break the "linked" relationship. For future reference, when you go to make a duplicate of your component, right click on the top-level of your browser (it will be the name of your design) and you'll see options for Paste and Paste New. Make sure you choose Paste New. Paste New will make a duplicate component that is not linked to the original.

As you can see in this example, I've right-clicked on my design name (Unsaved) and now I have both options.

Hope that helps!

Taylor Stein

Fusion 360 Evangelist

[Anonymous]

Thanks Taylor. That worked great.

[Anonymous]

Hey I just came across this thread after much frustration and would like to chime in that I strongly vote for the "Paste New" functionality to be the default rather than making a link to the original. As a new user one would have the expectation that you can make changes to the copy without affecting the original. Making a link to the original seems to be a more special case.

In making an alternate version of a component I've now inadvertently deleted pieces of the original that I'll have to roll back to a previous version of the design to fix (as the deletions aren't on the timeline for some reason?)

[broncomech]

This function seems to have been changed since the original post

There is no paste new in my menu, how do I break the link to the original sketch so I dont screw that up whilw editing the new version?

[keith_olenick]

Just bumped into this issue.  There really should be a break link option for copied/pasted components for the same reasons as the option exists for imported components.  It's silly (at best) that the choice must be made for ever more at paste-time.

Also, there should be a way of renaming the copied components when they are linked.  In a design with many such components it can be a real pain to find the instance one is looking for in order to unhide it.  The primary concern at the top level of the Browser is not the instance number or that something is an instance but rather which specific component it is in an assembly.  Master/instance relationships could still be represented somehow, just not with the base names.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info. Its working 🙂 

[david.antliff]

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@broncomech wrote:

This function seems to have been changed since the original post

There is no paste new in my menu, how do I break the link to the original sketch so I dont screw that up whilw editing the new version?

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I'm also having trouble with this - there is no "Paste New" in my Edit menu in version 2.0.5519 and I can't find a way to unlink a copy of a component from the original component so that I can edit them independently.

EDIT: looks like you have to look for "Paste New" in the menu that appears when you right-click the top-level "assembly" after you have selected "Copy" for a component. It is not present in the Edit Menu. It also looks like, once you've created a linked copy (e.g. by accident) that there is no way to break the connection to the original component. However you can copy/paste-new the clone, and then delete the clone, which allows you to keep any changes you might have made to it. Then remove those changes from the original component to restore it to its state prior to those changes.

[Anonymous]

It appears "Paste New" is no longer present in the context menu.  Fresh install of Fusion 360.

[HughesTooling]

Check you're not trying to paste into the same component, is the component you're copying the active component? Try right click on the top component in the browser, Paste New should be on the menu.

Mark

[Anonymous]

Dear Fusion team...

It is 2020. This original post was some 5 years ago...

Why is it still not possible to break the link between a copied and pasted component???

It is such a workaround to have to go back, delete the copied part, and recopy a new version to 'paste as new'.  

Please make a break link ability...

[Anonymous]

I agree, having a convenient way to "break" the link between copied components would streamline an extremely repetitive and cumbersome workaround for creating lots of small parts like drawer sides, for example.

[Anonymous]

Is it still true that you can't break a relationship between a copy/pasted object? I am new to Fusion 360, and am now looking at needing to redraw my complete model in order to make a simple change. 

[laughingcreek]

still true.  but there may be workable alternatives. you may want to start a new thread, and post your model. I'm sure someone will have some ideas.

[Anonymous]

Thank-you for the replies. I am new to Fusion 360 and am getting used to the ways of doing things. I now use paste-new and paste depending on what I feel are common parts and those that are not. 

I'll continue learning and maybe in a couple hundred years will be able to add to the body of knowledge in this community!

[paul.sisneros]

I am constantly amazed by all the things that Fusion 360 can't do, or require a convoluted workaround, which are possible in SolidWorks, Catia, Inventor, ProE, AutoCad, Rhino, OneShape, and NX works. This is another to the list. I want to make a variant on some filter holders and I need to create separate files if I want to change them without ruining the other variants.

[Anonymous]

The word is starting to leak out. 5 - 6 years ago when frustrated users would write in complaining that some simple function required a ridiculously convoluted workaround they were often met with snotty replies ("why would you want to do that?") or a chirppy "it's on the road map, hang tight." Years later that has worn pretty thin. Very thin. Yes, the program is free. But also yes, it sucks, big time. I've come to view it as a reputation killer for Autodesk. As in: when I do graduate to purchasing a full scale CAD program it won't be anything made by Autodesk. Worse than a wasted opportunity, a company that made a name for itself 25 years ago for shooting itself in the foot has evidently reloaded.

[Anonymous]

I attempted the "Paste New" function and it appears to simply not work in my case. 

I select the component I wish to copy, and click copy in the right-click context menu in the part tree browser.

I right-click the top-level assembly, and choose "Paste New" 

Briefly an object appears in my part tree browser with a (1) suffix in the name, which then disappears again. 
It then opens the Move/Copy tool (without a selection loaded). 

Just a note to whomever squashes bugs 🙂 @keqingsong 

[laughingcreek]

It's possible AD will want to see the model so they have another example of this bug to add to the pile.  If you can figure out which feature is causing paste new to fail you can suppress it, copy/paste new, and then un-suppress as a means of moving on.   I think you can even suppress all the features in the component, copy/paste-new, then un-suppress if you can't figure out which feature is causing the failure.

The last time this happened to me, the paste-new caused the "extrude to" in one of my extrudes to lose it's reference.  a subsequent fillet feature then failed b/c the extrude didn't produce the edge the fillet was suppose to go on.   

[Anonymous]

I came here in the hope of finding a solution but I'm disappointed.
I agree with others.

It's 2020, 5 years passed after reporting this bug still, Autodesk didn't repair it.
There should be an easy way to unlink components after pasting.

Any new user will think his copy-pasted components are individual.
I'm facing this issue, I have an assembly which has 12 big gears and 10 small gears all 12 big gears are copied and pasted from 1 big gear. Using Move command by selecting create copy check box ON.
Tones of other components are there which are sketched and developed on the faces of these gears. There are more than 250 features in timeline history including joints and motion links.

After showing the design to my client (friend), he demanded to add a handle to the outermost big gear. But today when I started editing outer big gear (second copy of the original) all big gears started changing.
I'm unable to delete that gear because, that gears lie in the timeline at a very early stage, around feature number 4 or 6. I tried to delete it but, the whole assembly is disturbing because of the absence of that gear. All 250+ features are disturbed in the timeline.

Now how should I proceed in this condition? What's the solution for me? Recreating the whole assembly is not possible, It requires 1 month. The client wants this assembly completed by today, he is saying, why you need extra time to just add a handle.