Deriving a document

Deriving a document is the same as copying a document except that a reference is made to the original document so you can easily locate the origin of the derived document. The revision number of a derived document is not incremented. References to and from the original document are not copied to the new document. To also copy the references, use Derive with References and see Duplicating references. You may derive new documents only from existing released documents.

Note    Unlike a new revision (created by a document workflow) or a replaced document in which references to its source document are updated to refer to the new revision, references to the source of a derived document are not updated to refer to the derived document. This can be important if you need to maintain the existing configuration of references between assemblies, subassemblies, and parts. Another difference between the Derive Document and Replace Document commands is that derived documents are not retired, but replaced documents are retired and may not be revised again unless they are unretired.

For a comparison of the various copy commands, see Understanding the copy commands.

To derive a new document from an existing document:

1. Select the source document for the derived document.
2. On the Edit menu, select Derive Document. If the document type of the original document has been configured to show property pages for the Derive Document command, the pages are shown with the original document’s property values as defaults.
3. If necessary, type or change property values for the derived document and click OK. A new document is created in the current folder with the same file content as the original document.

If the document type is not configured to calculate the file name, the file name of the new document is set to Copy of <Originalfile name>. Otherwise, the new document receives a newly calculated file name.

A reference is made from the original document to the derived document with the reference type Derived To.

To view the reference:

1. Select either the derived document or its original document.
2. On the Document menu, click Show Derivatives. The Derivatives dialog box appears. For descriptions of the features of this dialog, see Viewing references.

If the document type is configured to use a document type workflow, the new document may be automatically placed under change to you. The status of the original document is not changed.