Part catalog is a fundamental element of OpenBOM data model allows to create Parts and use them in different BOMs. Part can anything in OpenBOM: 1/ standard part; 2/ engineering parts; 3/ assembly; etc.

If your plans to use OpenBOM are going beyond just exporting Part List from CAD system and sending to contractor, you would like to invest time and create Part Catalogs, which will become a great place to centralize all information about Parts in your company and also bring data from contractors and suppliers.

You can create Part Catalogs by 1/ Importing Part Catalog in Excel; 2/ Creating Part Catalog manually.

To create Part Catalog manually, use Create New Part Catalog command:

Then enter Part Catalog name (must be unique in your account) and setup Part Catalog Part Number settings (optional).

New part catalog is created with the following basic properties:

• Part Number
• Quantity on Hand (keep it if you plan to use Order BOMs)
• Manufacturer name
• Part State (keep it if you plan to release parts)
• Supplier link

You can add Description, since it can be useful.

You can add / delete any properties to customize the way you store data about Parts. Here are few parts as I added them to a new catalog.

To use Part Catalog in BOM, use Parts and Catalog command in BOM.

Select catalog you want to use

… and you will see that all Part Catalog properties are added to BOM (like this)

Pay attention – all properties pulled from Part Catalog are grey colored and read-only. You can edit them in Part Catalog and not in BOM. Part Number property became selection list of parts in Part catalog and type ahead for Part Number search is supported.

Select part and part will be inserted in BOM. All data from Part Catalog is pulled and displayed in the grid like in the picture below:

Note– you can control what properties are visible in the grid by creating user defined views. In the picture above, View is off and therefore you can see all properties.

More about Catalogs….