How can I make an internal part of a Solidworks assembly become external?

Question

I have found a part in an assembly which has been saved internally, while the rest are external. How can I turn this part into an external one? I need all the references to stay though.

Also, should a SLDPRT file be showing up in the project folder if it is an internal part? I'm wondering if it's possible that it got saved externally somehow without getting rid of the "^assemblyname" bit.

Answer 1

1. To save a Virtual Part externally, just right click it in the history tree, and click "Save Part(in External File)". If you see "Make Virtual" in the same position in the menu, then the part is already saved externally.

2. Using the process above should remove the ^assemblyname, but there are other ways you could have created a .SLDPRT file. If you have a virtual part, click "open part", and then File, Save As, you can save it. There will be a popup warning that looks like the image below. You can see that this includes the ^assemblyname. If you have ...^assemblyname.SLDPRT in your folder, the most likely scenario is that you did this, and your part isn't virtual at all any more, it's just got that filename.

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3. If the above is true, and you just need to rename the part to remove ^assemblyname (without breaking references), then you should right click on the part using windows explorer, and rename using the tool in the SOLIDWORKS sub-menu. Do this when the parts/assemblies are not open.