Save SOLIDWORKS Assembly as a Part

Article by Sanja Srzic updated June 14, 2015

Article

It is a common practice to export a SOLIDWORKS assembly to a neutral file format to be imported in other CAD applications.  The option to save SOLIDWORKS assembly as a part may not be as widely used, but it can be useful when assembly file set needs to be reduced to a single file and used for representation only.  Saving assembly as a part eliminates the need for sending all the reference files.

To save an assembly as a part, we use the File > Save As command.

Save SolidWorks assembly as a part file

Save SolidWorks assembly as a part file

After .sldprt file type is selected, three options appear in the Save As dialog:

  1. Exterior faces – saved part includes external faces only, all bodies being surfaces.  Typical reasons for saving assembly as a part with external faces are preventing reverse engineering of the model and reducing file size of the model that is required for representation purpose.
  2. Exterior components – part includes only visible components.
  3. All components – all components are included as multiple bodies except those that are hidden or suppressed in the assembly.

Similar to exporting assembly to a neutral file format, a part saved from an assembly includes plain geometry without feature history.  After an assembly has been saved to a part file, there is no link between the two documents.  Further changes made to the assembly will not propagate to the part file.

Related Links

Get Certified SOLIDWORKS Services from Javelin

Javelin Experts can help you to:

Find Related Content by TAG:

Sanja Srzic

Sanja is the SOLIDWORKS Technical Support Team Leader for Western Canada, and is based in the Javelin Winnipeg Office