Design Assistant rename greyed out

[Mark_Geurds]

Hello everybody,

I'm in need for some help. I have an assembly opened in Design Assistant but the rename, copy and replace (rmb in action column) options are greyed out. The assembly is top-level (not used in a drawing or anywhere else (searched the entire drive with 'where used') and is fully migrated (also checked that 2 times). I've read something about referenced parts used in other drawings so i made sure the 2 referencing parts are only used in this assembly, and still it won't work. Any tips or tricks i can try? 

[mcgyvr]

Any use of model states?

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Unabl...

[ChrisMitchell01 · Accepted solution]

We're currently Beta testing a fix for this issue in the context of 2022.2Beta1. If you would like to try this then you can apply for access using http://Autode.sk/InventorBeta.

The planned release for 2022.2 is early in November.

Thanks,
Chris

[Mark_Geurds]

@mcgyvr yes i am

@ChrisMitchell01 Thanks for your response. I hope this gets fixed soon since it was a good way to copy my basic assembly. Can you tell me why model-states are the reason of the bug?

[ChrisMitchell01]

Model States was a very large project for the Inventor team & was planned to be a phased release. The development work required to support Design Assistant workflows was considered a lower priority compared to the many other aspects which had to be in the initial release.

Thanks

Chris

[suomenvaimennin]

So November has come and gone. Is Design Assistant ever going to be fixed? Does anyone at Autodesk even care anymore? Very frustrating.

[ChrisMitchell01]

The fix for this was released as part of the INventor 2022.2 update - have you installed that?

Thanks
Chris

[suomenvaimennin]

Yes, we have installed the update and it helps in maybe 20% of the problems. Still can't copy, but it will rename, but only sometimes. It just gives this error 80070057 (see attachment). Has this issue been tagged as resolved? Hopefully not, because is definitely not fixed.

[ChrisMitchell01]

Rename being greyed out is what was addressed. If you're still seeing errors then it's likely a different issue. When using Design Assistant it's important that the files have been migrated to the 2022 format; if not migrated then you may see (other) issues.

If you have migrated the files to 2022 & still get errors then it would be better to start a new forum topic or support case as opposed to commenting on this Idea.

Thanks

Chris

[suomenvaimennin]

There is already another forum topic:

"Inventor 2022 Design assistant won't copy"

But this is the same problem. If you previously used Level of Design, then Design Assistant doesn't work correctly.

So now Design Assistant is not greyed out, but gives an error when you try to copy or rename.

Doesn't sound fixed to me.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Steve,

As we communicated in the email, the Copy or Rename issue is different than the original grayed-out issue. As of 2022.2 update, Design Assistant should work fine with files containing non-Master Model States.

I still cannot reproduce the Copy or Rename issue you are seeing even though you sent me the files. Do you mind starting a new thread to see if other users are encountering the same issue?

Many thanks!

[nishan.japahuge]

I'm have the same problem. I keep on opening design assistant daily to see if it works. It never gonna happen. Very frustrating. If it is just one part I can save it as and replace. But what if there are 15 parts?

[suomenvaimennin]

I still see this where copy is greyed out in DA, but if I choose Rename and then click again I can now choose Copy.

Hopefully that works, if not it probably means that the files are not migrating properly. The File, Manage, Migrate is a placebo and doesn't do anything. Try File, Save, Save All.

[cstarker6VCG4]

We're in 2024 and it's still not fixed...

Why say that something will be fixed and then blow it off? I would rather AutoDesk just says "Sorry, we don't have the manpower currently and can't commit."

[SBix26]

This is not the same issue as the original.  What you're showing is that the top level file (drawing, assembly, part) cannot be renamed in Design Assistant, and this is not a bug, it's how DA works.  DA is assuming that since you have selected that file as the "root" of the operation it must not have referencing files above it, and there is no need to adjust links.  It is therefore a simple matter to rename the file in Windows File Explorer.  If that file actually does have higher level referencing files, then one of them needs to be selected as the root of the DA operation.

While I think I'm describing the DA logic correctly (someone will correct me if I'm not, I hope), that doesn't mean that I agree with it!  Even if the root file doesn't have any external references, it should still be possible to rename it in this operation-- it is quite counter-intuitive that it's not possible.

Nevertheless, this is a limitation of the app and not a bug to be fixed, if I'm understanding your post correctly, and therefore, not the issue raised by the original poster (OP).

---

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2025 | Windows 11 Home 23H2

[cstarker6VCG4]

Doesn't matter. Echoing "it's a limitation" doesn't justify to the user the lack of a feature. My complaint stands.

[SBix26]

Go back and review this topic again.  I don't like the limitation you're pointing out either, but that's not what this topic is about.  The problem discussed earlier in the topic (DA doesn't play nicely with non-primary model states) was fixed. 

Your complaint is a different issue, so it's not fair to rag on developers for claiming that it will be fixed and not fixing it-- they never promised to fix your (our) issue.  That's all.

---

Sam B

Inventor Pro 2025 | Windows 11 Home 23H2

[Maxim-CADman77]

Promise of solution is not a solution and should not be marked so.
There is still an issue see https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/design-assistant-quot-action-quot-still-greyed-out-aft...

[cstarker6VCG4]

You're missing the point of people's complaints. We don't care what Inventor thinks we want to do or what some dev thinks make sense. If customer says it's wrong, it's wrong, end of story. The only measure of a product's quality is the customer's opinion of it. The many eyes effect will tell the devs what is truly intuitive and what isn't.

The tree shows files in a hierarchical view. I want to edit from that view. It's not obvious what the "root" is.