Welcome to the second blog of our Level 300 series about Inventor Bill of Materials. In this blog, we will talk about Parts List Grouping, which helps you create a summary for similar items.
The Level 300 topics include:
- 301 – Virtual Components
- 302 – Part List Grouping – this post
- 303 – Example of how to make a cut list using a Parts List
What is Parts List Grouping?
Parts List Grouping in Inventor BOM is used to create summary rows for items that have similar characteristics. Grouping maintains individual identity of the components for Ballooning. It groups these items together and provides a means to create a summary row for the items.
Grouping Setup
To set up Grouping in a Parts List Style:
- In a drawing, choose Manage>Styles Editor… Choose a Parts List style to edit
- In the Default Column Settings, choose Grouping
- From the Grouping dialog, turn grouping on and define up to three Keys based on iProperties
- Select OK, save the style. You can now apply the style with the grouping turned on to a drawing parts list. Save the style to a Style Library to reuse it in all of your drawings.
Grouping Keys
Keys are iProperties that you define for grouping purposes. When two or more components in the Parts List have Keys that match, they are considered part of the same group.
For example, lets take the following four components:
- Part A.ipt, Part Number: A-113, Stock Number: 32×511, Description: “Class A Part”
- Part B.ipt, Part Number: A-114, Stock Number: 32×511, Description: “Class A Part”
- Part C.ipt, Part Number: B-111, Stock Number: 32×511, Description: “Class B Part”
- Part D.ipt, Part Number: B-112, Stock Number: 32×511, Description: “Class B Part”
If Stock Number is the only key, all four parts will belong to the same group. If grouping is set up with two keys: Stock Number and Description; then Part A and Part B will be one group, and Part C and Part D would be a second group. Each group gets its own summary row.
Grouping Options
Grouping has two options:
- Display Group Participants – when off, only the summary row is displayed for the group. When on, both the group participant rows AND the summary row are displayed in the Parts List
- Display Item Numbers (1, 2, 3) – When on, the summary row displays the Item Numbers of the components that are grouped.
Summary
Parts List Grouping allows the user to create summary rows of components in a Parts List without losing the individual ballooning identity of those items.
Want to learn more? Check out our final blog of this series about creating a Cut List in Drawings.