Build and publish a catalog

Import a STEP assembly, fill in part numbers and prices, check the exploded view, add service notes, then publish. Every publish keeps the version it replaced.

Catalogs are built in the editor at assemblyatlas.com/editor. On the Pilot plan we build and update them for you; on Catalog and Integrated your team can do it too. Open it from the console (Catalogs → New catalog) so it’s connected to your account.

Import the STEP file#

File → Import STEP file. The editor reads the parts and their structure, names them from the CAD file, and works out a first exploded view on its own. Large assemblies take a little while to read; the progress shows on screen.

Big files (over 30 MB) are uploaded and converted on the Assembly Atlas server, which reads assemblies of a few hundred MB that a browser can’t hold. The parts, names, structure and surfaces are exactly what the editor makes from the same file. You can close the tab while it converts; open the catalog again and it’s waiting as a draft.

Name, number and price the parts#

Click a part (in the model or in the Structure list) and fill in the Inspector:

Import a BOM#

File → Import BOM fills those fields for every part at once from the bill of materials your ERP or CAD exports: an Excel file (.xlsx) or a CSV. Use the file as it comes out of SolidWorks, Inventor, Solid Edge, SAP, Epicor or similar; columns are found by their headings, such as Item no., Part number, Description, Qty, Material and Price, even with a title above them. Indented (multi-level) BOMs work too: quantities are multiplied through the levels, and a part used in several subassemblies is counted once, in total.

Each BOM row is matched to a part in the model when its part number, file name or description is exactly the part’s CAD name (or a part number already filled in), ignoring case, file extensions and instance marks like <1>. Before anything changes you see every row:

• Matched: exactly one part, which nothing else matches. Ticked.
• Quantity differs: matched, but the BOM and the model have different counts (often hardware that isn’t modelled). Ticked, and shown so you can check.
• Choose a part: more than one part fits. Pick the right one.
• Similar name: confirm: no exact match, but one part’s name is close. Not ticked until you agree.
• Not found in the model: pick a part yourself, or leave it.

Each row shows exactly what will change on its part. Subassemblies in the BOM are skipped, and parts of the model that aren’t in the BOM are listed so you can fill them in by hand or hide them.

Options: replace values already filled in (on by default, since the BOM is usually the source of truth); name parts with the BOM’s descriptions, for models whose part names are file names or codes; and number the balloons with the BOM’s item numbers, so the catalog matches your assembly drawing. That needs every part in the model to have a whole-number item number of its own; otherwise the balloons keep their own numbering. Everything can be undone.

Prices and stock change more often than catalogs, so keep the everyday numbers in the price list rather than republishing.

Hide confidential parts#

Click the eye next to a part in the Structure list (“Hide from customers”). Hidden parts stay in your working file but are removed completely from the published catalog: they’re not in the file customers load, so they can’t be found by looking at the page’s code.

Check the exploded view#

The explode plays in steps, the way someone would take the product apart. For each part or subassembly you can change which step moves it and how far, or use Reset to auto. Scrub the step slider to check nothing passes through anything else.

Add service notes and step instructions#

• Specs, one per line as Label: value, for example Torque: 25 N·m. They show as a table on the part.
• Service notes: free text on the part, such as when to replace it.
• Step instructions: a sentence for each explode step. Customers see them in Step by step, and they become the pages of the parts manual and the captions of the animation.
• Step cameras: under each step’s instructions, turn and zoom the view to show that step well and press Use this view. Pressing play then moves the camera with the steps, about a second and a half each, so customers are shown each step rather than watching it all fly apart at once. A step without its own view keeps the one before it; before the first, it’s the usual view of the whole model. A view saved for Before you start is also where the catalog opens. Show plays to a step and its view, Clear removes it. On a phone the camera stands back so the same things stay in the picture. Dragging the slider never moves the camera.
• Product line (Catalog section): groups catalogs on the parts portal, such as Mowers or Outboard rigging.

Approve and publish#

1. Look over the whole catalog, tick the check in Review & approve (in the Inspector), then press Approve catalog. Any edit afterwards puts it back to draft, so “approved” always means checked as it is.
2. Press Publish, choose the catalog’s name (or the catalog it replaces), and confirm. A window shows each stage and how far along it is; keep the tab open until it says Published. A big catalog can take a few minutes, longest the first time, when the file it was made from is uploaded too. If the connection drops before the upload finishes, the live catalog is unchanged and Try again picks it up.
3. It’s live everywhere it’s embedded straight away. A picture of it is taken for the parts portal.

Each publish keeps the version it replaced (the last 10) under Catalogs → History, with Restore.

Revisions#

When engineering changes the assembly, import the new STEP file, import your BOM again, check the explode and notes, and publish it over the old catalog. Prices, stock and store ids in the price list follow the part numbers, so they carry over by themselves. Updates to BOM data, prices and names never need a new setup.