Disable Automatic File Association For Items

[brentCCG9B]

Dear Autodesk - we HAVE to fix this in the next release of Vault. This is insanely annoying to work with.

As a summary, when Assigning / Updating Items, Vault will automatically choose to associate other files which it seems to think are appropriate to associate to the Item, and more often that not these automatically associated files are not intended to be tied to the Item. When the Item is released, this then will then lock down these unrelated files, and the solution is painful. I will relay the solution below:

1. The Item has to be edited and the unrelated files have to be removed from the associated list. Note, to make things additionally annoying, only one file can be removed at one time. It may look like you can select more, but as soon as you hit Save, every file other than the first selected pop back again. So you have to select one, right click remove, save, then move to the next and repeat.

2. After removing the unwanted association, the file itself still stays locked. The quickest solution to this is to then create an Item from that file, Release it, then Roll Back the Lifecycle. This will unlock the file. Crazy.

Then, to make matters worse, the next time an upper level assembly which contains the Item (which has had its non-intended association removed) is Updated - the non-intended associations are added again! This is completely insane to be told that this is by design, and that there is no solution for it.

PLEASE, can we have this resolved in an upcoming release

[ihayesjr]

@brentCCG9B 

Thank you for posting the idea. How would you decide which files will or will not be associated with the Item?

[brentCCG9B]

Thanks for the response Irvin. I don't think there would need to be too much of a change from the current method. When Assigning / Updating an Item, the only difference I would make is that only the file chosen during the Assigning becomes the Primary link (as it is currently), but no other files are automatically associated. I would allow additional files to be associated manually as can be done currently (edit the item, right click and add associations), but the difference being that when this Item is updated in the future, no additional files are automatically added /associated. Only manual additions. Perhaps if other users have a need for the automatic associations we could have a check box in Item Settings which allow one behavior or the the other, "Allow Automatic File Associations".

[ihayesjr]

Normally, drawings associated with the model are also assigned to the Item. You don't want those assigned to the Item either?

[brentCCG9B]

No sir, only the actual file chosen when assigning the Item, or additional files which are manually handpicked.

We have separate Items for our drawings and for our models. So for example, a model may have an Item number of <P1234> then we may have multiple drawings related to that Item <P1234-01, P1234-02, P1234-03> etc. Each of these drawings have their own revisions and need to be locked / unlocked independently.

[RajSchmidt]

IMHO this could be solved with three checkboxes in the settings:

1. Attach drawings
2. Attach all documentation (to grab IPNs)
3. Attach other attached documents

[Gene.R]

This has been an issue for a very long time, functionality was added to be able to remove them but they repopulate upon an item update. I would like to see an exclusion button directly in the Item in lieu of a remove so that associations remain permanently excluded from production items. And conversely I would like a command to show excluded associations.

It happens a lot for us, primarily for idw and ipn that have other parts in them as reference. We have technical writers that use the models for publications for things like parts manuals, service manuals, installations, and websites.

Scenario 1: Comparison drawings.

They will add a several base view of several ipt into and idw to demonstrate old design and new design, this drawing is then sucked into the manufacturing Item when assigning the core ipt file.

Scenario 2: Manuals.

They create parts manual images using their own ipn file seperate from the production ipn, both from the original iam . Their reason for doing their own is so they can expand the levels of sub-assemblies to show replacement parts that are not pertinent to the manufacturing.

Scenario 3: Installations.
a separate ipn and or idw is created for technical step by step instruction, Imagine if you were to add individual ipt fastener part images to a kit description to clearly show what each fastener looks like, this installation drawing then gets sucked into several part manufacturing items.

Scenario 4: ACAD Mechanical drawings.
We often build smart parts lists of 2D installation drawings in AutoCAD mechanical using the "Part Reference" se we can take advantage of resorting, balloon association, vault boms, and where used. These drawing contain numerous fasteners that are referenced into the parts list and then when the item is assigned to the .dwg it then assign that .dwg file to all the components in the BOM as a secondary file assignment, and often prevents an item update because a child is released.