Bommer tries to make editing linked/cross-referenced components (once setup) from the top-level design as seamless as editing components that live within your design. That said, due to limitations with the Fusion software, there are some considerations to keep in mind when working with linked components.

Pending edits and using "Copy" in the Data Panel

Fusion 360 supports a Copy command to copy files in the Fusion Data Panel. Doing so will create a new file ID for each copy; these IDs are how Bommer stores and recalls linked edits to those parts, but they will be unavailable to the copied files with new IDs. As a result, make sure you push or save any pending edits to components before making copies of those component files.

Editing linked design names

Bommer typically allows you to edit a component's name by changing the Part Name value for that row in the bill of materials table. Unfortunately, Bommer cannot change the names of designs in the same way, which is what is used as the name of the top-level component of a referenced part or subassembly. In these cases, the names will be read-only in the table with a hover-over/tooltip instructing you to use the A360 data panel to make the change. This applies to the root component of any design but is especially impactful in designs with a lot of linked components.

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Editing Fusion properties

Bommer directly reads from/writes to Fusion properties such as Description, Part Name, and Part Number. In some cases, the edits you make to linked parts may not yet be visible inside Fusion, e.g. if you edit a description of a linked part, but have not saved a new revision of that part, Bommer will show your edit but Fusion's properties dialog will show the value saved with the last version of the part. To get your edits to show up in Fusion's property dialog, you must push your edits to the linked component. Click here for a guide on how to do this.

Editing an older reference version

You may find that you need to update the properties of a linked component for which you are not on the latest version, e.g. you don't want to pull in some externally made changes yet, or you just need to correct a typo without going through the whole save/update/save revision process, or you want to change some sourcing information on a released part that is still undergoing active development.

Bommer supports this use case by letting you make changes that are only visible in the context of the editing assembly. This is done automatically when you edit data on an out-of-date reference; just use the standard Bommer editing tools and the system will take care of marking them as internal.

Internal edits are not available to be pushed. To make these edits permanent and globally visible, you need to apply the edits to the latest version of the linked component using the Review edits command (click here for more info).

Editing components created in offline mode

Fusion 360 allows you to create assemblies with linked designs in offline mode, which means the components will not be uploaded to the Autodesk cloud. Unfortunately, Fusion 360 does not let us push edits to linked documents in offline mode. When you go online with a assembly created offline, Fusion 360 will automatically upload these components to the cloud and rev them to V1, which is a version number change as far Bommer's linked edits system is concerned; in other words, your edits will appear to vanish because they apply to an older version (same as above in Editing an older reference version above). Similar to above, you can use the Review edits command to re-apply your V0 edits to your now-V1 designs, and then push those changes to your linked components.

Updating Fusion 360 reference versions

After pushing edits, Bommer will always attempt to update a linked component to the new reference version. In some cases, Fusion 360 will return an error (if there are compute or reference errors in the component, for example). If this happens and the linked component is not on the latest version, you can manually update the reference in Fusion by clicking the Get All Latest button at the top of Fusion 360, or right-clicking on the component and clicking Get Latest.

Considerations when working with linked components

Pending edits and using "Copy" in the Data Panel

Editing linked design names

Editing Fusion properties

Editing an older reference version

Editing components created in offline mode

Updating Fusion 360 reference versions

Comments

Pending edits and using "Copy" in the Data Panel

Editing linked design names

Editing Fusion properties

Editing an older reference version

Editing components created in offline mode

Updating Fusion 360 reference versions

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