By Chris Turner
I frequently get asked about, and also sometimes need to do, a Pack & Go from Autodesk Inventor. I am not a huge fan of doing this because it creates file duplicates, but none the less, it can be useful when you are not using Vault and you need to give someone some data. This is the way I do it and I seldom have problems including ALL files.
The Pack & Go utility can be used to archive out files and their folder structure in one go, and copy a complete set of files to another location while retaining links to the copied referenced files. The copies are completely separate to the source files and can be modified without effecting the originals. Probably the main trick is to make sure you copy ‘everything’ that you want.
First of all, when using Pack & Go, make sure you open the highest level component, like the main assembly drawing. Specify folder and project locations as necessary and start the search for the lower ‘children’ components.
In my case I have made sure that I have ‘Included the linked files’ but you may also want to consider the other options I have highlighted, depending of what you are doing and where the files are ultimately going to be sent to.
Great, so far so good… I have the main parent file and all of the children files.
HOT TIP: Next, perform an additional search to collect the other reference files and data. For example, you may want to also include the Inventor drawing files of the parts and assemblies already gathered… The parent components!
Expand the dialog by selecting the More>>> button and perform a search for referencing files.
Keep in mind that the reference files can be searched for in the current folder or the whole project location. If you use the latter, this may take a bit of time.
A separate dialog box appears and it will list all the other reference documents. Select Add to include these to your Pack & Go. In my case there is an Inventor Presentation file and some drawings.
The Total Files in the Pack & Go dialog box should increase and then select Start.
This is great and I now know I have all the files I need to zip and pass onto someone else.
I also suggest having a look at my colleague Clint’s video on this.
You can find here
https://www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk/hc/en-us/articles/201774382-Inventor-Basics-Pack-and-Go