Browser Folders in Part Environment

[dan_szymanski]

Original Author:  

MattH_Work

Whilst I appreciate that we cannot move features up & down the browser without changing the Part (we are free to move components up & down in the Assembly, therefore browser folder 'restructurng' has no impact), it would be nice to have a second browser (ala the Vault browser) where we can sort, reorder, add to folders, the content of a file (group all extrusions, revolves, sketches etc)

Even if this was just a visual  display of the 'sorted' feature tree with no editing capability (maybe a right click option to 'Goto Feature' in main browser for editing) it would make it easier for finding, renaming etc

[vvvxxvvv333]

everyone has been doing it for a long time. But for some reason Autodesk is busy beautifying the interface instead of normal work. And it is advertised, look how beautiful it is. They will probably create a green theme in the next version - they will say that it is organic 🙂

[coen.heemskerk]

Can Inventor look into this please. When looking for the mates in assembly, it hinders

[SEC_CAD]

This idea has more than 430 votes and has been under review for 10 years. When are we getting folders to group features in our part files?

[vvvxxvvv333]

@SEC_CAD   

When will we get it? Never! Autodesk has not been interested in our wishes for a long time, they live in their own world. 😞

[fabian.dieterich]

I agree with the previous speakers. If Inventor developers are reading this communication, it is indeed incomprehensible that after almost 10 years and and hundreds of votes for this idea there is still no way to "clean up" a long feature tree, because:
_ the argument that the position of the features is relevant for the geometry of the part does not count for me. I just want to summarise a certain chronological modelling phase in order to be able to hide it (for example, all special preparations for 3D printing at the end of the feature tree). Solidworks has been doing this for years.
_ it would be a clear plus in usability (more of it in Inventor, please ;-)) to find one's way through several folders instead of hundreds of features (please just copy from Solidworks – it's sad enough that "the community" has to present a competitor's ideas to Autodesk to make their product more user-friendly).
_ I am sure that I am not the only user (in my case forced ;-)) of Inventor who builds parts with feature trees of more than a hundred features.
Does any developer/decision maker at Autodesk finally feel challenged?
I would be very pleased!

[robertast]

These are excuses from Autodesk that it can't be done because of the element tree. You can pin a folder according to the position of the tree. Moreover, C ++ has changed in 10 years so that this can be done. But alas...

[fabian.dieterich]

If it didn't affect my daily work, I wouldn't care so much! After all, Autodesk allows suggestions for improving Inventor. The only question is: After how many years and how many clicks on »Vote« does Autodesk actually get things rolling?

[frpeng]

I switched from SolidWorks to Inventor and if this is the type of response that Inventor users get, it may be time to try something new.

[william]

Adding my vote to this. Have also used this feature extensively in SW. 
The time saved by quickly finding the feature you need should not be under-estimated. We often have feature trees with hundreds of items, would be nice to sort them in folders. 
447 votes and 1 decade later still not implemented...? @dan_szymanski  is this idea on the radar for the developers?
It was marked as accepted at one point. 

[dan_szymanski]

Hello @Anonymous, we keep a watchful eye on any idea that is over ~60 votes. Being that this one is in our Top 10, we are definitely aware of the ask. If you attend an upcoming Inside the Factory event (hosted via the Internal Inventor Feedback Community) perhaps a Developer would be willing to share some of the challenges that have prevented us from delivering this request during the Q&A? If you’re not already a member of the Inventor Feedback/beta program then click this link to apply.

More info will be shared within as to when the ITFs occur.

Regards,

Dan

[jeffg28CLY]

@dan_szymanskiOne challenge I have seen brought up is that part-files require that features be sequential, therefore folders can't work in part-files because they could let people group any feature and get things out of order.

I used to work with Pro-E, and it handled folders/groups by only permitting sequential features to be grouped: If you selected several sequential features and right-clicked, you would be offered the Group option. If you selected non-sequential features and right-clicked, the Group option was not available.

Looking at it that way, folders/groups are almost just a cosmetic thing, with a few checks/filters to make sure you aren't messing up the sequence of features. If you wanted to change the sequence of things, the grouping had to be deleted to split the features back out, then rearrange those features, and make a new group.

That's where I have a tough time understanding why this is something that can't be implemented. Yes, folders in part-files will need restrictions in order to preserve the sequence of features. Ok, that's expected. Other programs do that too. That would be preferable to not having them.

[vvvxxvvv333]

Yes, you can do whatever you want. I won’t say that coiputers used to be weak, but now ... The team has no desire to think, they are better than decoration, not functionality. So it will be a miracle if they solve it 🙂

[SEC_CAD]

Don't think of it as Explore Folders. Think of it like Group and Outline in Excel.

[nsayer_d42]

This would be great, even if it like you say was purely visual; for example, to be able to "zip up" a bunch of Thicken features into a single neat little folder, would save premium feature browser real estate.

Would even negate the need for a split browser - see idea here (shameless plug):

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/split-model-browser-minimise-scrolling-up-and-down-up-...

[WCrihfield]

Of course I have always wanted this ability too, and do not really care if the stuff I put into a BrowserFolder must stay in sequential order, as long as I can reduce a long scrolling list of stuff down into that folder to reduce space.  Of course there are lots of other reasons for wanting to bundle things into folders, but even introducing the most basic ability would be a good start.  For instance I have a list of 24 WorkPlanes in a row, all at the very top of my feature tree, before any sketches or any other types of features.  It would be super nice to just be able to select all of them at once, then right-click, and chose something like 'Add to New Folder', like we can in an assembly.  They are all already perfectly sequential, and in order, and all selected at the same time, so it seems like it should be a fairly simple thing to do.

I can actually use an iLogic rule in the part, and create a new BrowserFolder, using the 'Model' BrowserPane.AddBrowserFolder("FolderName", ObjectCollectionOfBrowserNodes) method, but the new folder is placed after the 'End of Part' marker, and you can't really move the WorkPlanes into it (by code or manually).  It will even create another BrowserFolder with the same name, right below the already existing one, if I run the rule again.  But as I said before, they seem useless after created, and I don't even see a manual way to delete or remove them after the fact.  When I right-click on them, there are only 3 things in the right-click menu (Repeat Edit Rule ; Delete ; How To...).  And when I choose Delete, it doesn't delete the folder.  I was able to remove them using another iLogic rule though (BrowserFolder.Delete).  I also tried the BrowserFolder.SetEndOfPart(False) method, but that did not work either.  Guess I'll have to wait a while longer...

There was an old Saturday Night Live add where folks put on some super long fake white beards, to let others know that they have been waiting a long time.  But I don't think there is a good enough emoji for that here. 😂

[MattH_Work]

So its been while ( 5 years apparently ! )

Now also available with Improved Grouping, Colour Coded Feedback & Dark Theme,

Still coming soon to an App Store near you

[DarthBane55]

This looks cool.  Not what I am after, but maybe works for some folks.  I don't necessarily want to group by feature type, but more group a bunch of related features in a folder, regardless of the feature type.

[nsayer_d42]

Definately an interesting approach. This would be great for grouping together a bunch features, and then "hiding" them.

I still think there is mileage in my recently posted idea of being able to visually split the browser, so that the top and bottom can be seen simultaneously, particularly where the number of features is large.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/split-model-browser-minimise-scrolling-up-and-down-up-...

[SEC_CAD]

I don't think that the image that @MattH_Work posted is what we are after. I don't see the point of grouping all chamfers or extrusions together. If I create a latch feature on my part then I want a folder called "latch" that contains all the primary features (extrusions, fillets etc.) that built it.

I would be happy that I cannot group non-contiguous features in my folder. I would see that as bad practice anyway.

Excel's Group and Outline is the way to go.

[m.verbunt]

This should really be done. Since Inventor got worse with progected geometry and the direction of dimentions, the way to build stabel models is by using work features like planes and axis. But they quickly make a mess in the model tree.