SolidWorks 2010 Bible

Part V: Creating Drawings

Keep Missing Items

When you are making changes to a model, parts are often either suppressed or deleted altogether.

Some company documentation standards require that parts that are removed from a BOM remain

on the bill and appear with strikethrough formatting, although this may be a relic from days gone

by when it was more difficult to remove items from hand drawings.

Keep Missing Items and Zero Quantity Display have both been moved to Tools ➪ Options ➪

Document Properties ➪ Detailing ➪ Tables screen.

Zero Quantity Display

The Zero Quantity Display settings are only used for configurations where some components are

not used in some configurations. The three options that are available are

l (^) Quantity Of Dash. Substitutes a dash for the quantity value.
l Quantity Of Zero. Uses a zero for the quantity value.
l (^) Blank. Quantity value is blank.
Item numbers
Item numbers for components listed in the BOM can start at a specific number and be given a par-
ticular interval. The Do not change item numbers option means that even when rows are reordered,
item numbers stay with their original components.
The Follow Assembly Order option, which is also available through the right mouse button (RMB)
menu, means that the order of the components in the BOM follows the order of the components
in the Assembly FeatureManager. If the order is changed in the assembly, it also updates in the
drawing.
BOM Contents
The BOM Contents are handled by functionality available right on the BOM or through the RMB
menu. Figure 24.5 shows a simple BOM with the RMB menu. For example, you can drag the row
numbers to reorder BOM items, and right-click to hide them. Row numbers are only displayed
after you select the BOM table.
You can add columns or rows to the BOM for additional properties or manually added parts (such
as items you wouldn’t model, like paint or glue). To change the property displayed in a column,
double-click in the column header. In previous releases, many of the settings and options now
found on the RMB menu were found in a more complex Bill of Materials Properties window. The
newer arrangement is more intuitive. Most SolidWorks users know to try the RMB menu if they
select something and don’t get the option they are looking for in the PropertyManager.