SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part III: Working with Assemblies

List External References

You can access the locked and broken references through the List External References option on the

RMB menu of any feature with an external reference symbol. Figure 16.7 shows the name and path of

the assembly where the external reference was created, as well as the part names and entity types.

FIGURE 16.7

The External References dialog box

No External References

To access the No External References button on the Assembly toolbar, choose Tools ➪ Options ➪
External References ➪ Do Not Create References External To The Model from the menus. As its
name suggests, this setting prevents external relations from being created between parts in an
assembly. When you offset in-context edges or use Convert Entities, the resulting sketch entities
are created without relations of any type.

This lack of references includes the InPlace mate, which is not created when a part is created in-

context. As a result, when you add the part to the assembly, if you exit and later re-enter Edit Part

mode, SolidWorks reminds you that the part is not fixed in space by displaying the warning shown

in Figure 16.8.

This message should remind you that in-context features should be used only on parts that are

fully positioned in the assembly.