Updating Symbol Instances
As you dimension and detail your models you may need to redefine or retrieve an alternate version of a symbol. And, while it is not necessary, you may also want to update all instances of that symbol to reflect the symbol change throughout the current drawing. If you do not update the symbol in the current drawing, any newly added instances will maintain the symbol's old attributes.
The process of updating symbols is largely dependent upon the relationship between the symbol and the directory in which it is stored. Similar to the way that the Windows operating system does not consider two files with the same name to be the same file if they are stored in different directories, Creo Parametric too does not consider two symbols with the same name but different paths to be the same. For example:
Symbol Directory
Symbol Name
Description
symbol directory
(pro_symbol_dir)
ptc.sym
If the symbol is retrieved from the symbol directory set by the pro_symbol_dir configuration option its full name is simply <symbol_name>.sym.
C:\PTC\files\symbols
C:\PTC\files\symbols\ptc.sym
If a symbol is retrieved from a location other than the symbol directory, its full name is <full_path_to_directory>\<symbol_name>.sym.
If the existing symbol instances’ full name does not match the full name of the symbol being retrieved, you are not prompted to update the existing symbol instances. Instead, the new symbol instance is given the name <symbol_name>(2). This symbol renaming can be avoided by retrieving new symbol instances from the same symbol directory.
If you do not remember the symbol name or storage directory, click Annotate > Format > Symbol Gallery > Show Name and select the desired symbol instance. The full symbol name is displayed in the message area.
* 
Creo Parametric is case sensitive when determining whether the symbol names match; C:\MyFiles is not the same as C:\myfiles.
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