Assembly Configurations

With a part instance or assembly in the workspace, open the Configuration panel:

1. Click to the right-side of the graphics area (as shown above)

2. The Configurations panel opens:

   

3. Click to open a table:

   

By default, the caret to the left of 'Configuration' is expanded (shown above to the right of the red arrow), click the caret when you are done with a section of the panel to collapse that section.

4. Click in the first row to activate it and enter the names of the input in the Name column. For example, to configure a pattern on a part, you might name the rows 2x2 and 4x4. Use Tab to move from one row to the next.

   

   The active row is indicated by a blue bar to the left of the row.

5. To configure an input value for the indicated row, click .
6. Select the Mate, instance or pattern that contains the input (click it in the Assembly list) and select the input in the dialog that opens (shown below outlined in red). The input is then outlined with a broken yellow line and a new column is created for that input in the table (shown below, in the Configuration panel, to the left of the red arrow).

   

   The column name defaults to the name of the entity selected (as a top-level heading) plus the field name (as the subordinate-level heading), in this case Box <1> is the entity selected, and the field names have been changed to 2 x 2 and Long by the user.

Hover over the fields in the feature dialog to see which features can be configured. Features available for configuration are highlighted in yellow when you hover over them.

7. To edit a configured instance of the input:
   1. If the input is an entered value, click on the row in the table and enter a new value.
   2. If the input is a selection in a dialog, double-click the row in the table to open the feature dialog.

      The appropriate field in the feature dialog is highlighted in blue. Make your selection on the model or in the Instances lists for this input .

8. When finished defining the configurations, click the Done button in the orange message at the top of the window, or close the dialog box.
9. Repeat step 6 through 8 for each row.
10. Repeat steps 5 through 8 to add another feature to the table.
11. To test the inputs with the model, in the Feature list, under Configurations, use the down arrow to select from the menu:

    

The model should update accordingly. If it doesn’t, check the model for design intent and the configurations definition for accurate selection.

Onshape has a mechanism for also configuring assembly properties for each of the configuration inputs and options you have previously defined, directly from the Configuration panel. The properties available to be configured include: name, description, part number, revision, vendor, project, product line, title 1, title 2, title 3, not revision managed, and exclude from all BOMs.

To configure an Assembly property:

1. With an existing configuration input in the Configuration panel, click at the top of the panel (shown below outlined in blue):

   

   

2. Click .
3. Select the assembly property you wish to configure (Properties are included in the list). (This example uses Project.)

   A table is created with the previously selected configuration input in the first column and the property in the second column:

   

4. In the Configuration column, use the down arrow to select from the list of configuration options.
5. In the Project column (project property), enter the name.
6. To add more part properties for another configuration option, click .
7. Select a new configuration option from the first column.
8. In the Project column (project property), enter the name.
9. Repeat as necessary to configure the properties for the necessary configuration options.

When configuring part number properties, you can right-click and select Generate new part number, when automatic part number generation is turned on (through your Professional Company settings > Numbering schemes or Enterprise settings > Numbering schemes):

To change the name of a configuration, click the name (Configuration) and type a new name. Click out of the edit box to save.

After a part with configurations has been inserted into an Assembly, you can change the configuration of it, on any device:

1. Right-click on the part (or the part name in the Instances list) and select Change configuration.

   A Change configuration dialog opens:

   

2. Select a new configuration option.
3. Click when you are satisfied with your selection. (Use to cancel the operation.)

For iOS and Android devices, tap the three dot menu and select 'Change configuration' to access the configuration dropdown and select a different configuration. Tap the Generate button to generate the new configuration of the part.

The examples in this section show a configured Part Studio; functionality is identical when working with configured Assemblies.

You can adjust the conditions under which a configuration input is visible.

Consider a part with two configuration inputs: Height and Width.

By default, a part of any height can have any width. But let's say the Extra Wide width is only available for the Tall height. In that case, we can set the conditions under which the Width input is visible.

1. In the Configuration panel, click the configuration table's three-dot button, and select Visibility conditions from the menu.

   

   The Configuration visibility conditions dialog opens. The right panel shows a preview of the currently selected configurations. You can change the selected options directly in this panel to preview your settings.

   

2. Click Add condition.
3. Click the first dropdown, and select the input that should control the visibility of this input. In this example, we'll select the Height input.
4. Click the second dropdown, and select the conditions under which the input is available. In this example, the Width input is only available for the Tall height. The preview on the right updates to reflect your selections. You can see that the Width input is no longer available for the Short height in the image below.

   

5. Click Save. Now, the Width input is only visible when the Tall height is selected, and the Width input table displays the Visibility conditions icon .

   

   

   

   

Setting multiple conditions

Configuration conditions are additive; if we add a third configuration to the above example and set the conditions shown in the image below, the Large Fillet option will only be available for parts that have both the Tall height and Extra Wide width inputs.

When the Default width is set for the Tall height, the Fillet configuration is hidden.

Configuration inputs can only control the visibility of inputs that appear below them in the Configurations panel. In our example, the Width input can be controlled by the Height input, but not by the Fillet input.

Tips

• The visibility conditions you set are available in all Insert dialogs (i.e., when inserting a configured part into an assembly).

• Hidden inputs always have their default value. In the example above, Short and Medium height parts have the Default width, even though no width options are set.

• (Parts and Part Studios only): Configuration inputs that have been excluded from properties can only control the visibility of other inputs below them that have also been excluded from properties. In the example below, if Width is excluded from properties (indicated by the icon), it can only control the Fillet visibility if Fillet is also excluded from properties.

  

  

• Use the Inputs dropdown in the Configuration visibility conditions dialog to view other inputs. You can select All inputs to view all inputs available.
• You can use the preview section of the Configuration visibility conditions dialog as a playground to test your configurations.
• Select the Show hidden inputs checkbox to show grayed-out inputs in the Configuration visibility conditions dialog.

  

• Click in the Configurations selector to open the Configuration visibility conditions dialog for all inputs. Click in the Configurations panel to open the dialog for that input.

• Changes made to visibility conditions are automatically reflected in all existing documents that reference the configured element.

You can copy and paste into and out of a configuration table, to aid in entering or editing input values.

To copy a configuration table:

1. Open the menu in the upper right corner, next to +Configure features.
2. Select Copy table.
3. Once you have copied the table, you can paste it into a spreadsheet.

Note that the column names also come in with the table. Now you can edit the table and copy/paste it back into Onshape:

1. Select just the rows and columns with data (not the column names or headings).

You can also pad your table with extra empty rows, if you wish. Just include the extra rows in the spreadsheet when selecting for the copy command.

2. Issue a Copy command.
3. In the Onshape Configuration table, click the top, left cell of the table.
4. Issue a keyboard Paste command.

Onshape automatically replaces whatever data was in the rows and columns of the configuration input table with the data that was copied. Onshape also includes the default units for each input, automatically.

Note that if there are more rows copied from the spreadsheet than are in the Onshape configuration input table, those rows are included in the paste. Onshape creates the rows on the fly.

However, if there are more columns copied from the spreadsheet than are in the Onshape configuration input table, those columns are not included in the paste. Onshape does not yet create columns on the fly. You can, however, create additional columns (configured features) in the configuration table before pasting.

When inserting a part with excluded configurations into an assembly, you'll see the Excluded from properties icon next to the part.