Hello,

Historically, in my company, variables were applied to all configurations.

But we had problems with our files that had configurations without Excel Design Table, the properties were overwritten, we therefore had to create a Excel Design Table.

We therefore decided to only fill in the variables in the “@” tab by default.

But we had problems with old files where the variables in the configurations had not been erased (e.g., Default config, etc.). Like the wrong variable indicated in the search column. (shows the variable from the Default tab instead of @, for example).

Later, we started using Composer for our assembly instructions.

The big problem with Composer is that it handles BOM differently. 

It does not recognize the active configuration, it's a big problem, because we need to show properties of parts for component without configurations, and show properties of active configuration (e.g. : screw).

So, what is the best way to manage PDM data card, so that they work well with PDM, Solidworks, and Composer for components with and without configurations ?

PS : I have never understood why in Solidworks, we have a “Default” configuration even for parts WITHOUT a configuration. It is such a source of error (property entered in the ‘Default’ tab instead of “@”).

Thank you in advance for your help