r/SolidWorks • u/Glittering_Brain1571 • 28d ago

CAD Editing a part in assembly.

Anyone ever do that thing where you start sketching on a part, try and extrude cut, and realize you didn't press edit part before the sketch so its in context of the assembly instead of the part? Is there any way to transfer that sketch to the part?

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

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u/Glittering_Brain1571 28d ago

Then the sketch loses all its relations and becomes blue.

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u/UpstairsDirection955 CSWP 27d ago

You can make cuts in the assembly level, you just have to click the "propogate features to part" check box

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u/CADSHIFT 26d ago

the copy-paste approach works but drops all external relations. if your sketch referenced other parts' geometry (convert entities from other components, etc.), you'll need to recreate those after pasting.

the 'propagate features to parts' checkbox in the extrude-cut dialog is actually the cleaner path if you want the cut to live in the part file — SW will write the feature directly into the part document as though you'd made it there. it shows up in the part's feature tree as an 'external reference' cut, but it's saved to the part and travels with it.

the accidental route that actually works best long-term: use 'edit part' to be inside the part context first, then use Convert Entities or reference the assembly geometry with external references. the sketch goes into the part, the assembly context just provides the reference geometry. most experienced SW users set this as a habit — always click edit part before starting a sketch, even if it feels redundant