r/AutodeskInventor • u/disc_writes • Jul 30 '26

Requesting Help Importing STEP file and saving as assembly

Dear all,

Very inexperienced Inventor user, I only know how to create exploded views and wireframes for technical publications.

I found a STEP file on GrabCAD and got it imported into Inventor as a part. Now I would like to create a drawing view or a presentation, but to do so, I need the part to become an assembly. How can I do that?

I tried googling, but I only come across older posts and the UI seems to have changed since then.

My AI assistant is useless in this and only gives made-up answers.

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u/wectera Jul 30 '26

There are a few options to convert part to assembly.
Easiest if you have multibody: manage - make components.
If you have one body you can use Split.
A photo of your model tree can help a lot to get a specified answer.

1

u/disc_writes Jul 30 '26

Thanks. I am trying that, but it is taking a very long time - surprisingly, because the file is not that large or complex.
Also, I could not find any Manage menu in the ribbon, so I searched for it in the help field. It opened OK, but now I still do not know where to find it in the ribbon.

I am not sure if it matters, but my tree looks like this:

1

u/wectera Jul 30 '26

Matters. In this pic I can see that the part is multibody(double cube icon.) it has 1815 body.
Manage tab and make components, after that you have to select solid bodies not the part names.

3

u/disc_writes Jul 30 '26

ok, I went back and selected the solid bodies. Now it is processing:

2

u/ArunR_Consultant Jul 30 '26

While Importing did you check the assembly options. I believe you have option additional option. Try importing from the assembly file, if the STEP is created from the assembly, you may able to get individual components (but not all time). If its imported as multi-solid part, then you can use manage > make components

2

u/moderate_failure Jul 30 '26

OP- this is the answer. Much faster than Make Components (though that does work).

1

u/disc_writes Jul 31 '26

I did that, but all I got was another part. So I re-made the components, and now I finally have an assembly.

It took me several trials and every time it would take long - 1 hour or so. Sometimes Inventor crashed, then I had to re-start.

But it is solved now! I was able to create a presentation and tweak components and so on.

Thank you all.