The parts tree

The parts tree in the left sidebar lists everything in the scene. A part is one row. A group is a folder that holds parts or other groups. A STEP file usually arrives with the groups its designer made.

Read a row

• A part row shows its name and its triangle count.
• A group row shows how many parts it holds. A group with nothing in it says “empty”.
• The eye at the right hides or shows the row.
• Click the small box in front of a group to open or close it.

The four buttons

Locate

Scrolls the tree to the selected part and opens the groups it is in. ShiftS.

Collapse

Closes every group. Press it again to open them all.

Rename

Renames many parts at once. F2.

Flatten

Removes levels of grouping.

Search

Type in Search parts… above the tree. Only the rows whose names match stay, including matches inside closed groups. Press the small cross in the field to clear the search.

Rename one row

1. Double-click the name of a part or a group.
2. Type the new name.
3. Press Enter.

Rename many rows

CAD files often come with names like Part_0031_geom. Batch rename changes many names in one go.

1. Select the parts to rename.
2. Press F2 or the Rename button. The Batch rename window opens.
3. Choose a tab. Find & Replace swaps one piece of text for another. Pattern builds each name from pieces such as {name}, {parent} and {counter:003}. Presets has ready-made rules, such as lower-casing every name or removing a number at the end.
4. Look at the Preview. It shows every name before and after.
5. Press Apply.

Group and ungroup

CtrlG

Put the selected parts in a new group

CtrlShiftG

Ungroup: remove the selected group and keep what was inside

Del

Delete the selected parts. With a group selected, the group and everything in it.

A new group is called “Group” with a number. Double-click it to give it a name. Parts in a group move together when you move the group.

Drag and drop

Drag a row onto a group to move it into that group, or between two rows to change the order. A group cannot be dropped into itself.

Flatten

A STEP file can have groups inside groups ten levels deep. Flatten removes levels you do not need. Press Flatten to open the Advanced flatten window.

Scope

The whole tree, or only the groups you selected.

Total flatten

Removes every group inside the scope. All parts end up side by side.

Keep top N levels

Keeps the first levels of grouping and removes everything deeper.

Flatten last level only

Removes only the deepest groups, the ones that hold nothing but parts.

Collapse single-child chains

Removes groups that hold nothing but one other group. This is a common tidy-up for STEP files.

Ungroup (dissolve scope itself)

Removes the selected groups and moves what they held one level up.

Preserve user groups

Leaves alone the groups you made yourself.

Remove empty groups left behind

Deletes groups that end up with nothing in them.

The right-click menu

Right-click a part row for frame, isolate, hide, select similar, group, merge, Split, Fill holes, lock, Smart fit, copy, duplicate and delete. Right-click a group row to select its parts, frame it, rename it, ungroup it or delete it with its contents.

A locked part cannot be moved, and delete skips it. Use the same menu entry to unlock it.

Undo

Every change to the tree is an undo step: renames, groups, drags, flatten and deletes. Press CtrlZ.