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.

Required setup

In order for Bommer to be able to track and apply changes to linked components, we must add a small bit of metadata to the linked document. Bommer will take care of adding this metadata automatically if it is running when your designs are saved; for designs created before you started using Bommer, or designs imported from other users who may not use Bommer, you can manually set up the document by looking for the "Setup for linked editing" command in the Bommer pane, or the icon in either the Edit bill of materials table or Edit part properties form. In all cases, a new revision will be created for the linked document, and the reference in your assembly must be updated before you can proceed with editing the bill of materials for that component (or any subcomponents that live within that document).

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).

Updating Fusion 360 reference versions

After pushing edits, Bommer will always attempt to update a linked component to the new reference version. If this does not succeed, 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

Required setup

Editing linked design names

Editing Fusion properties

Editing an older reference version

Updating Fusion 360 reference versions

Comments

Required setup

Editing linked design names

Editing Fusion properties

Editing an older reference version

Updating Fusion 360 reference versions

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