Use Publications to create a collection of any Part Studios, Assemblies, Drawings, and blob files from any documents and share it with any user with an Onshape account.

Publications functionality is available only for standard, professional, and enterprise users. Publications can be shared with all types of users.

Creating a publication

Begin the creation process on the Documents page:

1. Click Create and select Publication.

2. Provide a name for the publication, a description, and add any labels you wish.

3. Click Create.

4. The empty publication opens:

   

Once the publication is created, you can add tabs from other and disparate documents, as well as include notes about the publication and its contents.

Inserting tabs into the publication

1. Click the Insert document tabs button in the Publication manager pane on the left side of the window to open the Insert document tabs dialog:

   

   The Publication manager works like the Tab manager.

2. Use the pane to search for the document from which you want to insert a tab:

   1. Search for or paste in a document URL.

   2. Select one of the search filters like: Recently opened or Created by me.

   3. Select a Team filter.

   4. Select a Project or Folder filter.

3. Once you have a list of Documents, select one.

   You can insert only from documents to which you have permission.

4. Filter with the Part Studios, Assemblies, Files, or Drawings filter at the top of the dialog.

5. Once you have a list of tabs, select the tab to insert.

   The tab you are inserting must be versioned or revisioned. Use the blue Create a version link if necessary to create a version before trying to insert the tab.

   The selected tab is listed in the Publication manager and a thumbnail is show at the bottom of the manager:

   

The dialog prevents you from duplicating inserted tabs:

When a tab is inserted, the data information is included and the model is displayed in the graphics area of the publication. For parts, the included information is the Feature list and Parts list:

 

All tabs are included in view-only mode since Publications are entirely view-only. This means the data within the publication is read-only and cannot be changed (versioned and revisioned elements are always view-only). Details of the publication, such as name, description, and other metadata are all editable by users who have permissions.

Editing publications

The hamburger menu to the left of the publication name contains the following commands:

• Rename publication - Change the name of the publication

• Move to - Move the publication to a different location such as a folder or project

• Publication properties - Opens the Publication properties dialog:

  • Description - Publication content summary.

  • Force publication Export rules - When checked, sharing or linking a publication with a non-registered publication user enforces the export rules, if any exist.

    If the publication is user-owned, then export rules under My account > Preferences > User export rules are applied. If the publication is owned by the company (Professional subscription) or enterprise (Enterprise subscription), then the export rules found under Company/Enterprise settings > Preferences > Company/Enterprise-wide export rules are applied.

• Insert document tabs - Insert more document tabs

• View as viewer - View the publication as a person shared into the publication would see it

• Copy publication - Copy the active workspace to a new publication

• Print - Print a view of the publication

• Close publication - Close the publication and return to the Documents page

Users with rights to edit a publication may add tabs to the publication or remove tabs from the publication. No parametric data within a tab can be edited.

Creating and editing publication notes

Each publication has a Notes section you can use for writing about each tab included in the publication.

When you create a publication, an empty Publication notes section is in the lower half of the window:

Click the small pencil icon on the right of the window enable editing. You can begin typing in the notes box. When creating notes, you can use Markdown for formatting. To preview the note to see the formatting of the Markdown, click the Preview icon (it appears where the pencil icon was before editing was initiated).

When finished creating or editing notes, click Apply to keep changes, or click Cancel to exit edit mode without keeping changes.

Searching for publications

Publications are listed on the Documents page, in the list view they are below Folders and above Documents:

Use the search bar at the top of the Documents page to search for a publication within the active filter, as stated in the search bar:

When using the search box to search for a publication, the search is conducted within the currently selected filter.

Use the down arrow in the Search bar to activate an advanced search menu and select a type of Publication:

Sharing publications

Sharing a publication is at the view-only level. You can share to individuals, Teams, use an email address to invite a guest user into the enterprise, or create a link with which to share the publication. All other share options apply.

Guest users can view only the information that is explicitly shared with them. When creating a link with which to share, anyone with the link can open the publication.

To see the publication as a shared user would see it, you can select View as viewer from the hamburger menu on the publication:

When selected, the publication interfaces displays as it would when a shared-in user opens the publication:

When finished previewing the publication, click the Done button in the gold ribbon at the top of the window.

The view-only toolbar is displayed for all users who are shared into the publication. No change or edit to data on any tab is allowed, regardless of the permission of the user with whom the publication is shared.

Change the thumbnail of a publication from within the publication. In the left pane, where the inserted document tabs are listed:

1. Right-click the name of the tab whose thumbnail you want to use for the publication to open the context menu.

2. Click 'Select as publication thumbnail.'

   

Acting on publications

The context menu on each tab also changes with respect to permissions. Right-click on a publication on the Documents page to open the context menu.

The context menu on a publication on the Documents page contains the following commands:

• Open - Open the publication

• Open in new browser tab - Open the publication in a new browser tab

• Rename publication - Open the dialog to edit the name of the publication

• Copy publication - Copy the active workspace to a new publication

• Details - Open the Details pane (on the right side of the window) for the publication

• Labels - Create or add a label to the publication

• Share - Open the Share dialog for the publication

• Unshare with me - Remove your permission to view the publication

• Move to - Move the publication to another location within Onshape, like a folder or project

• Transfer ownership - Transfer the ownership of the publication to another user

• Send to trash - Move the publication to the Trash.

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