My SolidWorks documents may be associated with different Categories depending on where they are deposited in the PDM vault and therefore respond to different Workflows . Example: Library, Products, Models, etc.
I know that it is possible since the 2017 version of PDM to change the category of a document very easily by a simple right-click.
But how do you do this in an earlier version of PDM (2016)? I can't find a simple solution.
I wouldn't want to have to take the documents out of the vault and re-import them to the right place to get them back to the correct category because I'm afraid of breaking all the external references with the parent assemblies.
Has anyone already had the opportunity to do this manipulation?
We are in 2016 and I know that for us, you have to be logged in as an admin that the file is archived (edit: no need for it to be approved) and by right-clicking on it, in change the state you can send the file in question to another workflow.
Even if the two are related, the question asked is to category a file.
So as it stands, it is impossible to change the category. Stream Editing is possible but the file will always have the same category as the one assigned to the origin of the file's creation.
Indeed, it is possible to send a document to another Workflow via a transition from one WorkFlow to another. I already use this possibility in my WorkFlows. But the category remains the same, the original category of the file.
@olivier42 I have already experimented with the solution of copying the file outside the vault, deleting the "recalcitrant" file and importing the file back into the vault. He takes the new category well. But indeed the references in the parent assemblies where it is used are broken. And since I have dozens of assemblies concerned, I was looking for a more "controlled" solution.
Regarding the title of your initial question, it seems to me that you would surely have done better to go through categories that create more problems for you than they bring you a solution.
We do not use categories although we have different WFs depending on the type of part (library, etc.).
So we have no problem switching parts from one WF to another via links provided for this purpose (possibly with rights to prevent the average user from putting the souk in the database).
The safest categorization is probably to be limited to the file extension (which allows you to manage different WFs for .xls and .slddrw files for example). If the categorization is done with the directory, it may be complicated due to a registration error.
I come back to this question concerning the change of category of a file in PDM.
Apparently this feature is possible from the 2017 version of PDM. I can't test because I'm still in the 2016 version...
Has anyone ever experienced it?
I wanted to know if it is necessary to be an administrator, i.e. logged in with the Admin account (which has all the rights) to perform this operation, or if it is possible to set the rights to an average user (or a group) so that he can do it.
I also wanted to know if the category change can be done via an action associated with a workflow transition.
I am not asking quite the same question. I would like to have additional information on what is possible to do from the 2017 and 2018 versions because I can't test it yet as I am still under 2016. The transition to 2018 is scheduled for us in a few months...
But in the meantime I'm looking into it because I'm in the process of setting up a lot of things in our PDM and I'd like to make sure what is feasible or not so as not to go into changes that are impossible to achieve later.
My last question on the subject was about the possibility in version 2017 or 2018 to change the category of a document via a workflow transition action, and not only by going through the edit menu or the context menu (right button) as it is briefly described in the help.
It wasn't very explicit. So I'm in the testing phase before migration so I'll have the 2018 in visual soon so I could make a return at that time but in my opinion as described it will remain an Admin action on right-click.