About Selecting Parts Lists (AutoCAD Mechanical Toolset)

The Select the parts list step of the Extraction Template wizard captures the data required to recognize the parts list in the current drawing.

It captures information about the location of the parts list in relation to the drawing border. It also captures the location of the title and header rows, as well as the location of the first data row. It then converts the captured information to a set of rules and saves them to the extraction template. The BOM Migration wizard uses these rules to locate and read the parts lists of the drawings it migrates.

Note: If the header contains an empty cell, the wizard assigns a default name (Column#) in place of the text object it would have otherwise extracted. For example, if the third column in the header row is empty, it assigns the name Column3 to the text object.

If the header consists of two rows, when you click Next in the Select parts list step, the wizard displays the Parts List Style dialog box. In this dialog box, you can choose to:

• Create a custom parts list.

  The wizard captures information to generate a custom parts list based on the existing parts list. In AMOPTIONS, it updates the parts list standard element to use this custom parts list. Consequently, when the BOM Migration wizard migrates drawings, the appearance of the parts lists do not change. Yet, it they can be edited with the AMPARTLIST command.

• Use the default parts list.

  The wizard sets options to use the default parts list that is set in AMOPTIONS. Consequently, when the BOM Migration wizard migrates drawings, the appearance of the parts list is likely to be different from the existing parts list.

You need not do anything special for extended parts list. The wizard handles them automatically without any further input from you. See Rules for parts list and extended parts list below for details.

If some of the drawings you intend to migrate store their parts lists in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, instead of having them within the drawing, you can still migrate them. The spreadsheets though must conform to the following rules:

• The order of columns within the spreadsheets must be identical to the order of columns within the parts list in the Reference Drawing.
• The column headings within the spreadsheet must be identical to the column headings within the parts list placed on a drawing.