Ok, I might have been making this harder than it needed to be, but I’ve finally worked out a system that’s relatively simple, yet it does what we need it to do.

File names: xx-yyy.ext
xx= 2 digit system number from previous post
yyy = 3 digit consecutive part number assigned by person doing the modeling

Within Solid Edge, in the Menu> Properties> File Properties, on the Project tab, use Document Number for description, and Revision Number for capital letter revision.

The Menu, is the Solid Edge symbol in the upper left of the Solid Edge window.

So all the meta-data is filled in in a single location. That’s simple enough. Unless you want to add your name as author, which your templates might already have. Do this in the Summary tab.

The current revision will not have the revision in the file name, but old revisions do have the revision in the file name. So you might have a list of files:

01-123-A.par
01-123-B.par
01-123.par

In this list, the last one is current, the first two are old revs. This will make the file management easier and the purists among us can still sleep at night. If you don’t put revs in the file name for old revs, you have to use folders, which is too much work for what we’re doing here.

To be able to see these properties in Windows Explorer requires a little set up, but this is interesting.

First, install Jason Newell’s Power Toys for Solid Edge. This should be all you need to do with the program. You can play around with it, but I don’t think it needs any more set up.

Next, in Windows Explorer (WinKey+E), go to a folder for the FLEXcavator project, and right click on the header row where it says Name, Date Modified, and all that. Then click More…

Scroll down, and put a check mark next to Authors, Revision (SE), and Document Number (SE). These will be in the long alphabetized list.

When you’re done, your Windows Explorer should look like this (click for large version):

The file list in the main window has all the properties, and the preview window at the bottom gives you a visual. This is all the data you need for simple file management.

Thanks to HDS for suggesting Jason’s program, and thanks to other for pushing me on the file naming bit. The bad news is that learning things takes time and this project is off to a slow start, but the good news is that I’ve (we’ve) learned something new about combining SE capabilities with Windows capabilities for workable file management without real file management software.

Next stop system assignments.