Hi Sam,
No, not always and not any more. Since IV2020 there is some issue with the derived parts not getting updated after the base component is edited.
That Inventor's shortcoming has been discussed on the forum a few times already. Apparently the latest version of Inventor (2025) still has this problem.
The work around to this issue is to select the derived component, select "Edit", click OK in the popping up DB. After that the derived component gets updated.
It doesn't happen all of the time (not getting updated after the source file is edited) but it does happen frequently enough to get noted. Yet there is no logical explanation for such behavior, offered by the Inventor team. The end user has just to keep hi/her eyes open more carefully. That's all.
Cheers,
Igor.
@SBix26 wrote:
In my 20+ years of experience with Inventor, derived parts which are open always need to be updated to reflect changes in the base part, similar to how drawings behave. But they always show the lightning bolt icon indicating that the base part has changed. The same is true for assemblies, in my experience.

For example, if I am using multi-body master modeling and make a change to the master model, all the files dependent on that model will need to be updated. The good news is that clicking Update in the assembly will take care of updating all the components that need it. However, that assembly-level Update command will not update the drawings of components that change as a result.
Sam B
Inventor Pro 2025.2.1 | Windows 11 Home 24H2

Web: www.meqc.com.au