About Copying Parts

When you copy a part from one structure to another or to a location within the same structure, the information associated with the part such as usage links and reference designator, may get copied to the new location. The extent of information of Usage Link that is to be copied with a part is controlled using the site-level preference Enable Copy with Usage Link Attributes and its subset of preferences. The Enable Copy with Usage Link Attributes preference is present in the Copy Usage Links preference section under Part Management.

The configuration for Enable Copy with Usage Link Attributes, a top-level preference, takes precedence over the settings configured for its subset of preferences. Set to Yes to allow copying of usage link attribute information namely, reference designator, soft attributes, substitute replacements, and visual location. By default, the preference is set to No.

The value of reference designator of a part must be unique within its sub-assembly. During the copy-paste action for a part, reference designator is not copied forward if a part with the same reference designator value exists at the new location. In such cases, the reference designator section of the newly copied part remains blank. You need to specify the value for reference designator in the textbox manually.

The following subset of preferences are available for the Enable Copy with Usage Link Attributes preference:

• Copy forward all soft attributes on the Usage Links—Set to Yes to copy the soft attributes specified with a part. By default, the preference is set to No.

• Copy forward Substitute Replacements— Set to Yes to copy the Substitute Replacement part associated with a part. By default, the preference is set to No.

• Copy forward Visual Location— Set to Yes to copy the Visual Location matrix for a part. By default, the preference is set to No.