Introduction to the Workspace
A workspace is a private area where you can manage multiple objects and perform basic Data Management operations. You can bring objects into your workspace from your authoring application, from your local file system, or from the commonspace. The commonspace is the collection of Windchill Contexts on a Windchill server that are accessible to you and other users that have the appropriate access privileges.
The functionality available in the workspace (see
Workspace Page Functionality) varies depending on the following factors.
• Whether the workspace is your active workspace
• Whether you are viewing it from an embedded browser (within Creo Parametric or the Windchill Workgroup Manager) or a standalone browser
• According to the Windchill context with which the workspace is associated.
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Object creation, storage, and retrieval actions are, by default, performed within the confines of a Windchill context.
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Windchill Contexts
The environment (for example, a product, library, or project) in which you perform specific tasks is known as a context. Each context establishes the following.
• The data and actions available to you
• The templates you can use when creating objects
• Default life cycles and workflows that you can use to manage your data
• The teams and roles to which you may be assigned
• The forum topics, reference notebook folders, and user notebook folders available to you
• The shared folder location where your data is stored
• Object naming and numbering policies
• Server-side preference values
A context is established whenever one of the following is created:
• Organization
• Product
• Library
• Project
Active and Inactive Workspaces
In the
Creo Parametric or
Windchill Workgroup Manager user interface, you set which server/workspace combination is your active workspace. Also, if you are working in the embedded browser mode, you can use the
My Workspaces page to activate any workspace on the server. Upon subsequent connections to
Windchill, the workspace which was active the last time you connected is activated. An active workspace allows full database functionality and is your default location for storage and retrieval actions. For more information, see
Activating a Workspace.
The workspace actions menu, located next to the workspace title, contains the following selections:
• Activate—Activates the current workspace (available only in an inactive workspace viewed in the embedded browser).
• Event Management—Opens the Event Management utility for your current server.
• Edit Preferences—Opens the workspace preferences user interface which allows you to set general workspace preferences as well as workspace configuration specifications for objects.
• Delete Workspace—Allows you to delete the current workspace (available in an inactive or standalone workspace only—active workspaces cannot be deleted).
Your active workspace provides a richer set of commands than those available in an inactive workspace or a workspace viewed in a standalone browser. This richer set provides full database functionality. See the section File Menu for an Active Workspace for a table listing File menu options available in an active workspace.
Workspaces viewed in a standalone browser and inactive workspaces offer a limited set of commands in the File menu. Moreover, these commands are only applicable for cases of metadata-only transactions. See the section File Menu for Inactive or Standalone Workspaces for tables listing File menu options available in an inactive or standalone workspace.
Both active and inactive workspaces have identical options for editing object metadata in the
Workspace Edit Menu, and for accessing the
Event Management utility. (See
About the Event Manager.)
In the embedded browser, an icon next to the workspace name indicates which of the following statuses apply to the current workspace:
• 
—Active Workspace on primary server
• 
—Active Workspace on an additional server
• 
—Inactive Workspace
| When viewed in a standalone browser, all workspaces display the inactive icon . |
Workspace Functionality
From the workspace, you can do the following:
• Use
Windchill table controls to customize your view of the workspace table.
For more information about customizing views, as well as other information about tables, see Using Tables. • Find strings in the workspace listing by entering the string in the
Search in table field and clicking the search icon
.
• Create new CAD documents (Windchill PDMLink, Windchill ProjectLink only)
• Create new parts (Windchill PDMLink or Windchill ProjectLink only)
• Create graphics dynamic documents
| You cannot create non-graphics dynamic documents in the workspace; nor can you associate dynamic documents to parts. |
• Initiate actions on single, multiple, and in some cases all objects referenced in workspace. These actions include Check In, Check Out, Undo Check Out, Remove from Workspace, Update, Add to Workspace, Upload, Revise, and Set State.
Additional actions are to Edit Attributes, Edit Association, or Auto Associate (Windchill PDMLink or Windchill ProjectLink only).
The actions are available from the File and Edit menus. In addition, certain, frequently used commands are available from a toolbar displayed at the top of the workspace Object List table or in the Actions column of the table. For more information, see Workspace Action Icons.
• Access the
Event Management utility, available from the workspace action menu, to view the results or status of PDM server interaction, and resolve conflicts. For more information, see
About the Event Management Utility.
| Your workspace is a private area. However, an administrator may (as company needs require) access objects in your workspace (for example to perform Undo Checkout on a checked-out object). |
Show Me
Would you like to watch a short video tutorial that takes you on a tour of the Windchill workspace?
| Video playback is free, but requires initial registration with PTC.com. Registered users — simply sign-in. |
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