Which project (ipj) does my file belong to?

[mharderX7GH9]

How do I find out which inventor project (which .ipj) a part or assembly belongs to?  I feel like there should be an easier way than this:

Open file > make change > try to save; if save fails > close part without saving > change active project > repeat until it saves successfully.

[SBix26]

As far as I know, there is no link between a project file (.ipj) and any other Inventor files.  That is, model, presentation, and drawing files have no record of what project was active when they were created or modified or last opened.  And this makes sense, because any particular file could be opened with any number of different projects.

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Sam B
Inventor Pro 2022 | Windows 10 Home 2004
LinkedIn

[mcgyvr]

In addition to what @SBix26 already said you could just look at the file location of the part and then examine each project file to see if that location is covered by that project file.

But its certainly possible that multiple project files could include that location. 

Do you have Vault? Where used report maybe helpful?

[Frederick_Law]

Files don't belongs to any project.

I use one project for all files.

Other can use multiple projects on same file.

It depend on how the user want o organize their files.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! On top of what experts already mentioned, indeed Inventor files are not aware of which project they belong to. They can be in a project or multiple projects or no project (Default). It is not aware where it is placed. On the other hand, an ipj file isn't aware of individual Inventor files either. It only knows the folder paths to find the files.

You can always create a new project based on the existing folder structure. Inventor will be able to find the files based on the pre-defined folders.

Many thanks!

[jtylerbc]

What (very specifically) do you mean by "save fails"?  What messages do you get?

[mharderX7GH9]

Correction:

The save doesn't fail, but I do get a warning that I'm trying to save "Files outside of active project workspace".

So clearly, some association does exist between projects and parts.

[SBix26]

Nope, there's no association.  Inventor is configured by whatever project is active at the time, and if you're trying to save a file somewhere else, Inventor notices and warns you.

It sounds as if you would benefit from a little better organization of your files and projects.  I can't recall having had a problem like this when I was working, because we had a very logical organization of our Inventor files.

Another way to tackle this might be the way you're opening files.  I'm guessing that you open files from Windows File Explorer?  If so, you would benefit from starting Inventor, activating an appropriate project file, then opening files from within Inventor.  You can open files outside the active project workspace, but it's very obvious that you are doing so, and you can back up and change to a different project file.

If none of this helps, perhaps you can show us the way your projects' files are organized and someone here may be able to suggest something.

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Sam B
Inventor Pro 2022 | Windows 10 Home 2004
LinkedIn

[SharkDesign]

Easiest way to fix this is to go into bill of materials, add a column for the file path and then check which files fall outside of the project search paths.

To move the parts. Close inventor, move them and when you reopen the assembly it'll ask to relink them.

[Frederick_Law]

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@mharderX7GH9 wrote:

Correction:

The save doesn't fail, but I do get a warning that I'm trying to save "Files outside of active project workspace".

So clearly, some association does exist between projects and parts.

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All file for the project should be under same folder.

So save the file under same folder.

If you have parts share between projects, put them in a library folder.

Or simply use same project file for all projects.

Looks like you need 101 on Project file.