Per CAD package
Exporting STEP and checking your BOM.
Every CAD package exports slightly differently. For each package this shows how to get a STEP with the whole assembly structure in it, how to get the BOM into Excel and where things often go wrong.
01 Pick your package
How to export from your package.
- Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS A STEP from SOLIDWORKS contains the whole design with all parts and quantities, provided you set one option correctly. Below: the export, the BOM to Excel and how to check them against each other.
- Autodesk Autodesk Inventor Inventor puts the assembly and all parts in one STEP file, including materials. Below: the export, the BOM to Excel and how to check them against each other.
- Siemens Solid Edge Solid Edge exports assemblies to STEP AP203 or AP214. Below: the export with the right setting, the parts list to Excel and how to check them against each other. With BOMproof it can also be done without an export: then we read the Solid Edge files ourselves.
- PTC PTC Creo Parametric Creo exports an assembly to STEP with the whole structure in it. Below: the export, the BOM from a table or report and how to check model and BOM against each other.
- Siemens Siemens NX NX has its own export choice per STEP version. Below: the export of an assembly, the parts list to Excel and how to check them against each other.
- Dassault Systèmes CATIA V5 In CATIA V5 you set the STEP protocol once in the options and then simply export with Save As. You get the Bill of Material from the Analyze menu.
- Autodesk Autodesk Fusion Fusion exports the whole design to one STEP file. The BOM comes from the Bill of Materials or from a table on the drawing.
- PTC Onshape Onshape exports from the tab of your assembly. With the BOM, watch out for one thing: without expanded subassemblies you do not export everything.
02 Why STEP
Why the check runs via STEP.
STEP (ISO 10303-21, extension .stp or .step) is the format every CAD package can export and read. A STEP export of an assembly contains the product structure: which parts there are, in which subassembly they sit and how many. Exactly what you need to check a BOM.
That is why a check on STEP works the same for everyone, regardless of the package the design was made in. You need no licence or plug-in, and a supplier or colleague can open the same file.
What is not always in it: materials (this differs per package and setting) and properties from your PDM, such as part number, supplier or price. That is why the drawing and the BOM from your own system remain necessary, and the point is precisely whether those three agree with each other.
Want to see first what is in your export? Open it in the free STEP viewer: structure, parts, materials and a check for duplicate and loose parts. The file stays on your own computer.
Ready for your first automated check?
Book a 30-minute demo. Bring one of your own designs and see live how BOMproof checks it.