Part Collections

A part collection is a named list of parts put together by hand — for example Spring Catalog, Parts for the Acme Job, or Discontinued. Collections sit on top of the Parts catalog rather than replacing it. To open the list, click Parts in the workbench toolbar and choose Part Collections.

Collections vs. Part Groups

Collections and part groups both organize parts, but they answer different questions:

A part group is a part's home in the catalog. A part lives in exactly one group, and moving it to another group moves it out of the first.
A part collection is a list a part can appear on. The same part can be in as many collections at once as needed, and adding it to one never moves it or changes it.

Tip: If a part needs to be in two places at once, that is what a collection is for. If the question is "where does this part belong in our catalog?", that is a part group.

The Part Collections List

Collections are shown in a tree. Collections can be organized into folders, which appear in bold and can be expanded — by double-clicking, or with the arrow beside them — to reveal the collections and sub-folders nested inside them.

Two buttons appear above the list:

New Part Collection — starts a new collection and opens it in its own tab, ready to have parts added and be named.
New Group — creates a folder that collections can be organized into.

If a folder or collection is selected when one of these buttons is clicked, the new item goes inside it. Otherwise it goes at the top level.

Building a New Collection

A new collection starts out as a draft. Nothing is saved while it is being put together, and nothing is created at all until Save Collection is clicked — so a collection can be started, explored, and abandoned by closing the tab without leaving anything behind for the rest of the company to see.

To build one:

Click Add Parts… and pick the parts (see below).
Type a name in Collection Name. A name is required — Backbone will ask for one if the collection is saved without it.
Click Save Collection.

Once saved, the collection behaves like everything else in Backbone: changes take effect as they are made, and the Save Collection button goes away.

Adding Parts to a Collection

Double-click a collection to open it. The collection's tab shows its name and the parts it contains, with the part number, name, and description of each.

Click Add Parts… to open a search window. Type a part number, name, or description and press Enter to search the catalog, then check off the parts to add. Searching again keeps everything already checked, so parts can be gathered from several searches before clicking OK. Parts already in the collection are left out of the results.

Tip: The window shows a running count of how many parts are checked, so it is clear what will be added even after searching several times.

Dragging parts in from the Parts Browser

Parts can also be dragged straight from the Parts Browser onto a collection's parts table. Turn on Edit first — the drag is refused while the collection is read-only.

Because the workbench only shows one tab at a time, the Parts Browser needs its own window to drag out of. Either drag its tab out of the window — the tab pops into a window of its own when dropped outside — or right-click the tab and choose Open in new window. Then drag parts from that window onto the collection. Several parts can be selected and dragged at once.

Tearing off a tab: any tab can be dragged out into its own window this way, not just the Parts Browser. Drop it back on the window, or press Esc while dragging, to leave it where it was. Nothing is lost when a tab moves — even a part collection that hasn't been saved yet keeps the parts you've added.

Dragging a part in does not move it. The cursor shows a copy, because adding a part to a collection takes it away from nothing — it keeps its part group and stays on every other collection it belongs to. Only the collection changes. Parts already in the collection, and any part groups caught up in the drag, are ignored.

Opening a Part

Double-click any part row inside a collection to open it in a full Part Editor tab, where its details can be viewed and edited as usual. Editing a part this way changes the part itself, so the change is visible everywhere that part appears — including every other collection it belongs to.

To open several at once, select the rows, then right-click and choose Open Selected Part(s) — each one opens in its own tab. Backbone will ask first if the selection would open more than a few tabs at a time.

Tip: Opening parts does not require edit mode. Only changing the collection itself — renaming it, adding or removing parts — needs Edit turned on.

Editing and Organizing

Click Edit to turn on edit mode. Edit mode is off by default, because collections are shared by everyone at the company.

While edit mode is on:

Click any collection or folder name in the list to rename it right there in the table. The new name is saved as soon as you click away.
Collections and folders can be dragged within the tree to rearrange them. Dropping onto a folder files the item inside it; dropping onto empty space moves it back to the top level.
The Delete right-click action becomes available in the collections list, and Remove from Collection becomes available on a collection's parts.

Tip: Folders have no editor of their own — a folder is just a name, so renaming it in the list is all there is to it. A collection can be renamed the same way, or from its own tab.

Removing a part is not deleting it: Remove from Collection only takes the part off that one list. The part itself stays in the catalog, along with its place in every other collection. To delete a part outright, use the Parts list.

A collection that still has parts in it cannot be deleted, and neither can a folder that still has collections or sub-folders inside it. Empty the collection or folder first, and Backbone will explain if something is still in the way.

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