Solid Edge gives you the flexibility to decide when you want changes to be reflected in your documents. When you make changes to a design, you can automatically update the following types of information immediately, or defer updates until later:
Driving dimensions in the Part and Sheet Metal environments
Assembly relationships in the Assembly environment
The Automatic Update command determines how updates are made. When this command is set, a checkmark is displayed beside the command name. In this state, the command automatically updates information within the active environment.
For example, you can edit the value of a driving dimension to change the size or shape of a feature, and the change is applied immediately.
When you want to make several changes, you can save time by clearing Automatic Update. When the Automatic Update command is cleared, Solid Edge postpones updates until you select the Update Relationships command or reset Automatic Update.
When you edit a part in the context of an assembly, the assembly does not automatically update.
For example, when the Automatic Update command is on, you can in-place activate a part in an assembly and change its size and shape in the Part environment. Any parts in the assembly that should be repositioned because of the change you made will not update their positions until you select the Update All Links command on the File menu. The assembly will also update if use the Close and Return command to close the part document and return to the assembly.
When Automatic Update is cleared, you can use the Update Relationships command on the Tools menu to update information in the current environment.
For example, if you change the driving dimensions of a part within the Part environment, and then select Update Relationships, the changes are reflected in the Part environment.
When Automatic Update is cleared, you can also use the Update All Links command to update information in both the Part and Assembly environments.
You can edit or open an unmanaged part contained in a managed assembly. Suppose you drag and drop an unmanaged document into a managed assembly. Before saving the assembly file, you can in-place activate the unmanaged part document for edit. After making your changes you can close and return to the assembly. When you save the managed assembly, the unmanaged document is saved to the cache folder and the managed assembly is updated. This works the same for documents stored by Insight and Teamcenter.