Inventor: Suppressed components
An Inventor assembly may contain suppressed components for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to one or more of the following:
- Model states - If there are many possible layouts and variations of assemblies, one model state may need a component, while another does not.
- Performance - Some components take so long to load that they are suppressed by default and are only unsuppressed when needed.
- Possible options - You may wish to explore different off-the-shelf parts to perform the same function.
- Multiple representations of an item - You may need a space saver for additional components that are added later, such as an electrical circuit board. These items would not be part of the final mechanical design but used as a reference.
Initial registration
When an assembly that contains a suppressed component is registered to Upchain using the Create item function from the right-click menu in the cBOM view or Settings 
> Import data, the suppressed file is also registered and saved as a phantom file in the cBOM. An item is not created for the component and therefore does not appear in the eBOM.
The active model state determines which components are suppressed and thus which files are registered as phantom. Therefore, if you wish to have items for every component in your assembly, you should first set the active model state to be one with all components unsuppressed.
There are a few things to note regarding the registration process:
- Since suppressed components are initially registered as phantom, if there were any drawings associated with them, the drawings will not be registered to Upchain.
- Unlike the components that have been registered to items, the suppressed phantom components are not locked for editing immediately following registration. Your Tenant Admin must enable the tenant property
file.checkout.phantomto enable you to check out phantoms. - If your Tenant Admin has configured file renaming rules, the suppressed file is renamed according to the rule set for phantom files. The filename will not change if it is registered to an item later.
BOM views after registering suppressed components
After registering suppressed components in Upchain the following rules apply:
- Suppressed phantom files are found only in the cBOM view.
- If the suppressed component is registered to an item, the item’s eBOM quantity is updated to match the number of times it is unsuppressed in the cBOM. If all instances are suppressed in the cBOM, then the item is removed from the eBOM (eBOM qty = 0) and is no longer associated with the assembly or project.
A note on missing files
If any suppressed files are missing, Upchain prompts you to locate the missing files and presents you with a list of files it cannot locate. Registration cannot proceed until all files have been located or removed from the assembly.
Note: The tenant property
allow.import.with.missing.files does not allow you to import an Inventor assembly with missing files. It simply allows you to import an assembly with suppressed components.Suppressed files and common BOM actions
The following table outlines how suppressed components are managed in different scenarios.
| Operation | Description of behavior |
|---|---|
| Save/Check in | There are several things to consider when you Save or Check in an assembly containing suppressed components:
|
| Check out | When selecting Check out from the Project BOM on an assembly that contains a suppressed component, the suppressed components can also be checked out at the same time. If the suppressed component also contains a drawing, the drawing can be checked out here as well. The assembly opens in the active model state that the assembly was in when last checked in. Note: An assembly containing a checked out suppressed component cannot be checked back in until the check out lock on the suppressed component is removed or the component is unsuppressed. |
| Download | When selecting Open from the Project BOM on an assembly that contains a suppressed component, the suppressed component’s CAD files are also downloaded. If the suppressed components are associated with items that contain drawings, you can download the drawings as well. The assembly opens in the active model state that the assembly was in when last checked in. |
| Plugin Settings > Import data | If an assembly that contains suppressed components is imported using this function, all suppressed components are registered as phantom and any drawings they may have been associated with are not registered. If any CAD files are missing, Upchain prompts you to locate the missing files and presents you with a list of files it cannot locate. Registration cannot proceed until all files have been located or removed from the assembly. |
| Generate Translations and Visualizations | Suppressed components do not appear in its parent assembly visualization to reflect how it was checked in. Suppressed components registered as phantoms do not have any translations or visualizations generated. Translations are only generated for CAD files and drawings that are associated with items. |
| Update attributes (common, custom, and CAD) | If your Tenant Admin has configured Read or Write CAD mappings for certain item attributes, the attributes are updated any time a CAD file associated with an item is Checked out from Upchain or Saved/Checked back in. For suppressed items, its attributes are updated in the same way. Note however that you cannot Save or Check in an assembly that contains checked out suppressed components, so you must open the suppressed components one at a time to check them in individually. CAD attributes are also brought into Upchain if your Tenant Admin has enabled the extract.cad.properties tenant property and the CAD file is not missing. If a suppressed component is a phantom file, then it does not have an item and therefore no item or CAD attributes to map. |
| Change request | If a suppressed component is registered to an item, the item’s eBOM quantity matches the number of times it is unsuppressed in the cBOM. If the item does appear on the eBOM with a quantity greater than zero, then item will be released when its parent assembly is released. If all instances of the item are suppressed in the cBOM, then the item is removed from the eBOM (eBOM qty = 0) and is no longer associated with the assembly or project. Releasing an assembly with suppressed components does not release the suppressed component because the item is not part of the assembly’s eBOM. Therefore, you’ll see a suppressed item in development in the cBOM of a released assembly. If the suppressed component remains as a phantom file in the cBOM, then it is versioned up along with its parent assembly but remains with a status of Development. |
| Bulk Export | Suppressed files are included when cBOM structures are exported using Bulk Export. |
| Copy > Clone | You can select Copy > Clone on a suppressed component along with its parent assembly in the same was as any other component. However, there are several things to be aware of:
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| Copy > Replace | You can select Copy > Replace on a suppressed component in a checked out assembly in the same way as any other component. However, there are several things to be aware of:
|