Assign Items

CAD data becomes available to the non-CAD user by assigning an item to a file. Assigning an item requires Item Create permission.

Assigning an item to a file within a vault creates an item record in the Item Master and allows the CAD data to be tracked throughout its lifecycle. A file must be checked into the vault in order to have an item assigned.

Files that can be assigned items

Autodesk Inventor IPT, IAM, IPN, DWG, and IDW files that have been checked into the vault using the Inventor add-in
Note: You cannot assign an item to an iAssembly or iPart factory.
AutoCAD and AutoCAD Mechanical DWG files
AutoCAD Electrical projects
Non-CAD files such as Microsoft Office documents

When an item is assigned to an Autodesk Inventor .ipt or .iam file, the related 2D .idw files are automatically associated to the item. The associated .idw files are listed in the item's Associated Files list and are available for mark up within the item. When an .iam file is assigned an item, the presentation file, .ipn, is also associated with the item and displayed in the Associated Files list.

If equivalent Autodesk Inventor files are assigned to items, the Assign Item dialog box displays the equivalence icon

for the assigned item. The tooltip for the icon indicates which files are equivalent.

When you assign an item to a file, an item number is automatically generated. You can apply a different item numbering scheme other than the default item number, or type in a new item number.

Update an Item

Update synchronizes items with the properties of the associated file versions in the vault. An item can be updated even if the associated file has not been changed so as to update any properties that have been globally added since the last update. Updating an item linked to an assembly file creates a new item for each new file associated with it. If any drawing files that were originally associated with the CAD files are removed, their association with the item is also removed when the item is updated.

If the item has child items (for example, an Autodesk Inventor assembly), the child items are also updated to reflect the most recent versions of the child files.

Attached files that are pinned are not updated.

Before updating items, make sure drawings are up to date with the model so that they are linked to the item.

Assign or Update an Item

Right-click one or more files in the vault view and then select Assign Item.
or
Right-click on an item in the item master and then select Update.
or
Right-click on an item in a change order and then select Update.

The first screen of the Assign Item Wizard displays the items to be created, the items to be updated, and the total number of items. A Change Order column indicates which items are already controlled by a change order.
A new item is created for each of the files selected and for the related files. From the Show drop-down list, you can select to filter the display to a subset of items:
- Multi-Level - a hierarchical list of all the items to be created. You can expand or collapse top level assemblies to show or hide all of the related items.
- All Items - a flat list of all items.
- New Items - a flat list of only the new items to be created. Items to be updated are not included.
- Updated Items - a flat list of only the items to be updated. Items to be created are not included.
For any items that contain secondary files, the equivalence icon is displayed. Place the cursor over the equivalence icon to see which files are involved.
If you want to change the item numbering, right-click an item and choose Change Item Number from the context menu. In the Change Item Number dialog box, assign a new item number and then click OK.
Note: Default numbering schemes that require user input are not applied automatically. Instead, an auto-generated number is assigned. You must edit an item number requiring user input and select the item numbering scheme.
Click Next.
The Find Duplicates screen lists any duplicate items that may already exist in the item master. An item to be created can be replaced with the existing item. If you do not want to replace any items with existing duplicates, click Finish.
The Duplicate Items list displays the items to be created and the number of duplicates that exist in the item master for each item to be created. From the Show drop-down list, select whether to show:
- All items
- New items
- Updated items
If you wish to see the property value being used to determine possible duplicate Items, right click on the colum nheadings, choose Customize, and add the Equivalence Value column. The value list in the Equivalence Value column is the value being used to find possible duplicate items for each new item.
To replace an item with an existing item, right-click in the Replace With cell for the item, and then select Select Replacement Item.
In the Select Replacement Item dialog box, select the item to use as the replacement and then click OK.
You can use the settings in Options to expedite the replacement process.
- Select Hide items without duplicates to list only items wiht possible duplicate items.
- Select Auto-select first duplicate to automatically replace new items with the most recently updated item that matches the Equivalence Value found in the item master.
Click Finish.
The View Results screen displays a list of the items that have been created or updated. A Change Order column indicates which items are already controlled by a change order. From the Show drop-down list, select what the item list should display:
- Multi-Level - a hierarchical list of all the items to be created. You can expand or collapse top level assemblies to show or hide all of the related items.
- All Items - a flat list of all items.
- New Items - a flat list of only the new items to be created. Items to be updated are not included.
- Updated Items - a flat list of only the items to be updated. Items to be created are excluded.
If you want to assign new or updated items to a change order at this time, perform these steps:
- Right-click on an item or items not already assigned to a change order and select Add to Change Order.
- On the Find dialog, search for the change order to which you want to assign the items.
- Select the change order from the results list and click OK.
  The item(s) now show an ECO icon in the Change Order column, indicating that they are assigned.
You can choose to generate a report as an Excel file (.xls) and save it locally or in the vault by performing one of these options:
- To save the report locally, click Save. On the Save As dialog, navigate to the folder structure where you want to store the file locally. Enter a name for the report and click Save.
- To save the report in a vault, Click Send to Vault to display a list of vault folders. Select the vault in which you want the report saved, enter a name for the report, and click Save.
Click Close.

The item master is updated with the new items. If items were assigned to Autodesk Inventor assembly files, any associated drawing (.idw) and presentation (.ipn) files are linked to the items. If items were assigned to Inventor part files, the associated drawing (.idw) files are linked to the items.

Select a Replacement Item

When assigning items to files or updating items, the Assign Item Wizard looks for any duplicate items that already exist in the item master. You can choose to replace the new item that will be created with any existing item, even if it is not listed as a suggested duplicate.

From within the Find Duplicates screen of the Assign Item Wizard, right-click in the Replace With cell for the item you want to replace.

Note: Click Find to use the Find dialog to locate a duplicate item.

In the Select Replacement Item dialog box, select the existing item and then click OK.

Change the Properties Used to Determine Duplicate Items

In Vault Professional 2012 and 2013, a user with an Administrator role can change the property used to determine if a file already has an equivalent item created.

From the Tools menu select Administration and Vault Settings.
Select the Behaviors tab.
Click the Properties... button.
Highlight the Equivalence Value property and click Edit.
Add mappings to the properties whose values you wish to be used as equivalence comparisons.

For more information see Mapping Properties_Concept

The properties mapped to Equivalence Value, will provide the values used to determine if an existing item already exists for a file being newly assigned to item.