Feature folders in Part model tree

[Anonymous]

Hi

I've seen a lot of old posts but no new ones addressing this problem, how am I supposed to create folders to place features in.

I would like to place support features (planes etc in one folder), location features (UCS with matching planes, material directions etc) in one folder so that the receiver of the model wont have to scroll through the tree to find the features for locating the part in an assembly.

Even though the current work task is rather quick and dirty it is important for the receiver to be able to locate important information easily.

How do I do, or is it still not possible to do this in the model tree of a part?

[mdavis22569]

Hi @Anonymous   

What version of Inventor

Is this what you're looking for ...or are you looking for it in the part level? 

[Anonymous]

No unfortunately not, as mentioned in the subject I'm looking for folders within the PART model tree, not the assembly 😕

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous

Browser folders only existing in assembly mode.

[mdavis22569]

Unfortunately that's not possible at this time ...

What about putting it on the idea's station? 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/idb-p/v1232/tab/most-recent

Here is a post about getting more votes:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/autodesk-inventor-idea-s-needing-support-thread/td-p/7...

[jtylerbc]

The idea already exists on the Idea Station.  Some of the comments are a little confusing (contain links to "Duplicate Ideas" that are actually the same idea, probably a result of merging).  It's listed with a "Future Consideration" status.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/browser-folders-in-part-environment/idi-p/3780620

[SBix26]

The quick and easy answer is that this would be totally illogical in a parametric history-based modeler.  Features are built on each other in the exact order shown in the browser, so how would rearranging them into folders work without messing up your model?

But I could imagine a different browser view that showed features grouped in some way meaningful to the user.  But making changes in such a view would be dangerous because you couldn't see where the feature is in the history of the part, so you won't know what kinds of collateral damage you would be inflicting.

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2018.1
Vault Workgroup 2018.0
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1
Inventor Certified Professional

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! It is true that folder is still not available in Part browser. There isn't an easy way to organize feature browser nodes besides reordering. Inventor is revamping its UI. This is an area the project team is actively investigating and tweaking. If you are interested, please sign up Inventor Beta (https://bit.ly/InventorBeta). You will be able to interact with the project team, try out the latest build, and give your feedback.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

That's something that I would also be interested.

Any news?

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Tiago,

Yes, we are aware of this requirement. It is on our radar. We are revamping the user interface, as you can see in the Browser search in 2018,  Measure tool in 2018, and Hole properties panel in 2019. We are making the workflows more usable and powerful. But, it is not complete yet.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Are you targeting any specific release for this?

[0x3FA5]

Just wandering are there folders already available in the part environment?

[Mark.Lancaster]

@0x3FA5 

No this feature (sorry folders ) do not exist at the part level.

[0x3FA5]

How in general experienced Inventor users keep the feature tree under control? I mean even the Hole feature has only "Hole1.." in the description, having 5 types of holes under the very descriptive name "Hole", as opposed to SW:

[Mark.Lancaster]

@0x3FA5 

You can do the same thing in Inventor..     Now this image is based on Inventor 2020 but same type of steps for other versions of Inventor

Now my model had 3 holes the same so I changed one to show the browser difference

[0x3FA5]

Awesome!

Thank you, had no idea.

[Anonymous]

No this doesn't help one little bit. It is abundantly clear for many years now that numerous people have repeatably requested for FOLDERS to be created in PART model. That is PART model, NOT ASSEMBLY model, read the request before telling us how to do it in Assembly model !!!!! This is a simple function that is available in many professional CAD systems, why ever not is it available in Inventor, pretty poor.

[mcgyvr]

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@Anonymous wrote:

No this doesn't help one little bit. It is abundantly clear for many years now that numerous people have repeatably requested for FOLDERS to be created in PART model. That is PART model, NOT ASSEMBLY model, read the request before telling us how to do it in Assembly model !!!!! This is a simple function that is available in many professional CAD systems, why ever not is it available in Inventor, pretty poor.

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@Anonymous  Your post indicates you were responding to @Mark.Lancaster 

The posts in this thread from him are statements that only assembly folders are supported as well as a detailed response showing another user how to turn on "extended names" next to features at the part level per 0x3FA5's questions above in message 14. I'm sure that was helpful to them.. 

While we all get frustrated at times you might want to leave out your comments like "read the request before... blah blah.. " in the future. It just wasn't necessary.

[torbjorn_heglum2]

Folders in the part browser are supported by the API, and a limited version of this functionality can be implemented by if programming. However, the order of features must remain, and EOP cannot be pulled inside a feature folder.

Haven't found any such apps or macros online, so unfortunately you will have to do the programming yourself if you want this  functionality. 

Torbjørn

[drew_bell]

Hi @johnsonshiue , any update on folders in part feature trees? 

I agree with a few other posts that being able to group part features into folders is basic functionality that is missing, especially coming from SolidWorks. I have a model tree that I took over that's well over a hundred features and very unwieldy to work with. If I could group those features into folders, i.e. OldestFeatures, OldFeatures, NewFeatures, that would be a huge help. 

As far as moving folders as some discussed, that's not a critical first feature in my mind. The logical solution would be "if all features in folder can move above/below the folder or feature the user is dragging it past, then allow it", but I understand if that's more difficult under the hood than typing it out 🙂 

It seems like there have been plenty of feature requests on this idea for years, so hopefully it's in the feature roadmap. 

On a positive note, big props for getting geometry-based sketch selection in Inventor 2020, solving one of the biggest pains for me in Inventor 2019.