Advanced Customization > Business Logic Customization > Customizations for PDM > Customizing Auto Associate > Controlling the Creation of Parts by Auto Associate
  
Controlling the Creation of Parts by Auto Associate
The preference, Operation > Auto Associate > Create Associate New Part, specifies whether a new part should be created if a matching part is not found by Auto Associate. The default is "Owner Only" for all CAD tools. ECAD authoring applications default to "All".
Possible values are:
Owner Only: If a matching part is not found, a new part is created when the CAD document would associate to a part with an "Owner" association.
Owner and Contributing Image: If a matching part is not found, a new part is created when the CAD document would associate to a part with either an "Owner" or "Contributing Image" association.
All: If a matching part is not found, a new part is created when the CAD document would associate to a part with any product structure association ("Owner", "Contributing Image", and "Image").
Never: A new part is not created if an existing part is not found, even if it contributes to product structure. Auto associate does not fail, the CAD document is skipped, and other selected CAD documents will try to associate.
Controlling the Default Location of Parts Created by Auto Associate
The preference, Operation > Auto Associate > Store New Parts with CAD Documents, when set to "Yes," specifies that the storage location of new part created during Auto Associate be the same as its associated CAD document. By default, the preference is set to "No."