Using the Reference Explorer

The Reference Explorer is an advanced tool for viewing references between documents. Unlike the reference viewer displayed by the Show References command, the Reference Explorer shows the location within the vault of each reference. It also provides tools for previewing, comparing, viewing properties, and viewing revisions.

The Reference Explorer is used by several Meridian commands to display different reference types:

• Show Assembly Structure: Shows outgoing CAD external reference types

• Show Where Used: Shows incoming CAD external reference types and custom reference types

• Show Derivatives: Shows Derived From and Derived To reference types
• Show Project Copies: Requires the Advanced Project Workflow Module
• Copy with References: Copies a document and its references to a new document
• Derive with References: Derives a document and references from a source document
• Create Project Copy: Copies a master document to a folder as a project copy

The Reference Explorer is built into the Copy with References and Derive with References commands, so the Reference Explorer appears automatically when creating references. The other commands display the Reference Explorer only to display different reference types.

Note    If a part is used in more than one subassembly, each occurrence of the part in the Reference Explorer tree is considered as a separate document for the purpose of selection. However, that does not affect the resulting copy operation.

To open a document in the Reference Explorer and view its references:

1. On the Document menu, select one of the first four commands listed above depending on the reference type that you want to view. The Reference Explorer opens, similar to the following figure, and shows documents that are linked to the selected document by the applicable reference type.

2. Select a document in the left pane to display its location in the Explorer view of the vault in the right pane.
3. Select options from the toolbar using the descriptions in the following table or right-click a document to show a shortcut menu of commands that are applicable to the selected document. To select or deselect an entire assembly with all parts and subassemblies related to it, hold down the Shift key while clicking either Select for copy or Use original.
4. To make one of the reference documents the selected document, select the document in the left pane and click Go to.