Assemblies and linked parts

Goal: understand how Strata handles an assembly that links to parts in other documents.

One project, many documents

Put the assembly and its parts in one project folder, for example:

Gearbox/
├── Gearbox.FCStd          assembly, links to the parts
└── Parts/
    ├── Bracket.FCStd
    └── Shaft.FCStd

Strata versions all three together. A version, a restore or a workspace switch always gives you an assembly and parts from the same moment, so links never point at a part from a different design state.

What happens on each operation

Save

only the saved document is recorded, and the entry names it, for example Edited Shaft: Radius 6 mm → 6.5 mm · Shaft.

Create version

all documents in the folder are included.

View

the chosen document and every other document of that point are written to a temporary folder, so the assembly’s links resolve to the parts of the same point.

Restore and switch

only documents that differ are rewritten and reloaded. An open assembly whose parts were reloaded is not marked as modified by Strata.

Merge

decided per document: the assembly can come from one workspace while a part comes from the other.

Tips

  • Keep everything an assembly links to inside the project folder. Links to files outside it work in FreeCAD, but those files are not versioned.

  • Link paths are stored relative to the assembly, so moving the whole project folder keeps them working.

  • Only the saved document is read when a save is recorded; for the test parts this took about a tenth of a second.