Using Preserve Geometry References when saving a SOLIDWORKS Assembly as a Part

Do you have an assembly with complex parts which has a high rebuild time? Maybe it’s a supplier assembly, or an assembly that you don’t want any components modified. Saving the assembly as a part can help to reduce file size, decrease load time, and ensure confidentiality for the component geometry if shared outside your company!

We have been able to save an assembly as a part for quite some time, but now when we select File > Save As and choose Part as the file type there is a new option to preserve geometry references is the save as dialog as shown below:

Preserve Geometry References

Once the option has been selected, and the assembly has been saved as a part, the components within the assembly will now have been converted to solid bodies as shown below:

Part with solid bodies

If the assembly is used as a sub assembly in another assembly you will notice the mates are still being referenced and working. Also if you take a look at a related drawing the dimensions and annotations are still intact and nothing has gone missing or left dangling.

You will find this to be a very useful feature to help simplify and optimize your assemblies to increase performance!