About Resolution of File Search

Autodesk Inventor searches for referenced files using the options and file storage locations defined by the active project.

A file reference stored in an Autodesk Inventor file is either a library reference or a non library reference. A library reference includes:

• Library name
• File name
• Subfolder location (if necessary)

A non library reference includes:

• File name
• Subfolder location (if necessary)

When you open a file, Autodesk Inventor searches for components in the following order:

• Library search paths, if a library part is loaded. Otherwise, library paths are not searched.
• Workspace.
• Workgroup search paths.
• The folder containing the project file.

Resolve file search

An automatic resolve process follows a set sequence of steps:

1. Full reference information is provided through an API event and any interested add-in application. For example, a PDM system is allowed to override the normal Autodesk Inventor behavior.

2. If a library name is stored in the reference, or the source file was opened from a library location, then only the project location associated with a single library name is searched.

   There are three variants of how the library name used to look up the library folder is determined:

   • The source file was not found in a library, but the reference has a library name. In this case, a project library location with the name matching the reference Library Name is searched.
   • The reference is a non library reference and its Library Name is empty, but the source file was found in a library location. In this case, a library location containing the source file is searched.
   • The reference is to a library and the source file was found in a library location. The system generates a list of complex candidate library names, and looks through the list, from longest to shortest, for a library name in the project that matches.

3. Non library references are searched in order through the workspace and each workgroup search path folder. The workgroup folders are searched in the order in which they are listed in the Project Editor.

4. For both library and non library references, if not found using the previous rules, the folder containing the source file is searched.

5. If the reference is still not found, substitution rules are applied from those previously defined in the Resolve Link dialog box (in the same Autodesk Inventor session), and the search process repeats. You can search for one or more other unresolved references using the same the substitution rule.

   Apply a substitution rule if you have:

   • Moved a set of files or an entire folder from one library to another or between a workgroup, another edit folder, and a library folder.
   • Added or removed a subfolder level within a project folder, or otherwise changed the subfolder path from the most significant project folder to the file.
   • Moved a set of files between a project folder and some folder outside the project.

6. If a file is still not found, the system checks the absolute full path where the referenced file was found the last time the referencing file was saved. If the file is found at that location, and that location is contained on one of the project locations, the reference information is automatically recomputed, or back-resolved, for future use, the source file is marked as needing to be saved, and the reference is resolved.

7. PDM vendors are given another chance to resolve the file whether they take over the process or add on to what Autodesk Inventor already does.

8. If the reference is identical to another that was previously resolved manually by the user choosing a file with the different name, the same replacement is applied.

If a file is still not found, the Resolve Link dialog box opens where you can specify the location of the referenced file. Once you find a file through this dialog box and open it, you can record the location for future use in the form of a library name and path substitution rule.

Depending on the reasons that the file was not found, you can take corrective actions:

• Cancel the open and move the file to a location defined in the active project. If you move the folder to a subfolder of a storage location, use the Resolve Link dialog box once to establish the correct relative path.
• If the file exists within a location defined by the active project, use the Resolve Link dialog box to enter the location.
• If the file is temporarily unavailable, such as when a network is unavailable, skip the reference and work without the referenced file.
• If the referenced file has been permanently deleted, skip the reference, and then later delete or replace it. In some Autodesk Inventor applications, you can specify the replacement component directly in the Resolve Link dialog box. Others require that you resolve the reference in the context of the top-level component first.