I am looking to permanent replace the old component with one that has been changed or repaired.
When I right click and ‘save as’, then when prompted, I indicate yes I want to save over the old file, it saves it.
Then when I go to use the newly changed component it comes up as 'component name#1"
It hasn’t saved and replaced the old component only saved this as the component with the suffix ‘#_’ .
This creates a real mess in my components and is difficult to straiten up when I finally get totally tired of it.
Does anyone know how I can save and replace the old component with the new, without this whole mess?
Confirm the name of the new component is same as old, may need to purge the old definition to change to suit. Then saveas to replace the old in its folder
I can see some inconsistent behavior in save as and reload naming–when you try to use the same name. Sometimes it adds a number other times it ignores the name given the file and goes to the old name of the second component.
I never thought to try dragging them back to replace the old component.
Was so used to save as from windows.
Thanks, Truly takes a sage to think of something so simple!
Just saving out the component doesn’t replace instances of the old version already in the model. You can right click one of the old copies and reload it from the external file.
It depends on how you create / change the new version. It’s too much to try to figure out this Sat morning but if you Save As the original component, Change it in the saved file, and reload: The changed component will replace the first and have the same name as the first.
Other methods such as modifying a component in the same file and doing save-as /reload on the original, give different naming results–even if you purge the second component, it remembers the second component definition. Other sequences will result in “_#2” naming etc. I find it inconsistent.
That is what always has driven me crazy.
As you have all noted this isn’t a problem with components when they are altered and have new naming and definitions, only when you want to use the original definition also.
This is a problem because I am typically working with a limited group of components, not creating new components every time, this is in a theatrical, meeting and convention situations.
Consequently I am mainly refining the components which are the various pieces of equipment we own or obtain from other vendors we work with, so they more closely model what we use. Then they get saved over the older less refined components that they are meant to replace.
I saw that, I was just clarifying what the situation was.
Thanks for all the input, it has helped me to understand how to approach my issue and eliminate it.
I had also never realized or thought to have 2 component windows open at the same time.
I see you have one for ‘in the model’ and a second for all of the components you are working with.
Yes. You can open the secondary pane by clicking on the button in the upper right corner.
You can do the drag and drop thing to add new components to a collection. My knobs and pulls collection, for example, started with just one knob but it has grown as I’ve needed new ones for projects. I save all of the knobs and pulls out because you never know when they’ll be needed again. I have similar collections for other hardware, too, and often modify an existing one to make a new one which I then save. I think there are better than a dozen wood screws of various sizes and head styles that all sprang from a #8 flat head screw with a slot.
You can use the same method to save styles and on the PC, to save materials. When I add new wood grain materials, I drag their thumbnails into the appropriate collection which I have sorted by species.
