The Documents tab of a STEP review turns the model into the paperwork that goes with the product: an assembly manual, a part passport, a parts list. The tables and numbers in those documents stay tied to the model, pictures are taken straight from the 3D viewer, and the result exports to PDF or Word with your title block. Nothing is typed twice, and when the model changes the document tells you exactly which values moved.
Before you start: analyse the model
Parts lists, facts, a passport's subject part and the assistant's drafts all read the model that the Quotation tab analysed. If you have not done that yet, press Start quotation there first (see Assembly quoting). One analysis serves the quotation, the routing and the documents. Until then, a passport, manual or parts list cannot be created, and the insert dialogs offer a link straight to the Quotation tab.
Five document types
A review can hold any number of documents. Each is one of five types:
| Type | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Assembly manual | How to put the product together: contents, tools and fasteners, the assembly procedure step by step with a picture per step, and the inspection |
| Part passport | Everything about one part: designation and name, a picture, technical data (material, mass, overall size), its PMI and its process route |
| Product passport | One document for the whole product: a cover with the general view and parts list, then a section per part with its picture and part card |
| Parts list | A specification or bill of materials laid out to a standard |
| Free document | Anything else: notes, an instruction, a cover letter |
A new passport, manual or product passport already contains its sections, tables and empty picture slots. The pictures are taken automatically the first time you open it.
Live data from the model
Under Insert, the From the model group adds blocks that read their rows from the analysed model:
| Block | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Parts list… | The whole model or chosen positions, with GOST 2.106, ISO 7573 or your own columns |
| Part card… | Name, designation, material, mass, overall size, quantity, buy or make, blank and, if you tick it, price per piece |
| PMI… | A part's dimensions, tolerances and notes (see PMI) |
| Operations… | The part's route from the Routing tab |
| Step list… and Kit list… | The steps of an assembly, and the bought parts with quantities |
| Fact… | A single value inside a sentence, such as a mass or a position number |
| Engineer value… | A value the model does not hold, such as a tightening torque, marked as stated by the engineer |
Values in these blocks cannot be typed over. The Note column of a parts list is yours and keeps your notes through every refresh. Detach turns a block into a plain table that no longer follows the model.
When the model changes
When the model is analysed again (a new quantity, a different material), the open document shows a Model changed banner and marks every affected block and fact. Nothing changes by itself. Review changes… lists each value as Was and Now; Apply or Apply all takes them in. Text you wrote around an old number is never rewritten, but the old value is shown so you can find it.
Pictures of the model
Image from viewer… opens a small window beside the model. Orbit, zoom, explode or section the model, choose what to show (the current view, the selected part, chosen positions or the whole model), press Preview until it looks right, then Insert. In an assembly manual, Step inserts a numbered step with an empty picture; set up the view and press Snapshot.
Every picture remembers how it was taken: camera, visible parts, explode, cross-section and balloons. After the model changes, Re-take shoots it again the same way, and Re-take all in the document menu refreshes every picture at once.
Balloons in the viewer toolbar shows each part's position number, the same number used in the parts list and the facts. You can drag a balloon to a better spot. Pictures of more than one part are always taken with balloons on, so the PDF and DOCX print them. Drawing… inserts a sheet from the model's PDF drawing (see STEP viewer).
Export, title block and translations
Export… in the document menu offers PDF (print-exact) or DOCX (editable, close to the PDF layout but not identical). Options include a table of contents, page numbers, a QR code to the live model, and a Hand-over package (zip) with the document, the STEP file of this model version and the parts list as XLSX. The file is prepared on the server; you can close the dialog and a notification brings the download when it is ready. Print gives you the same PDF to download and print.
A document that follows a GOST standard needs its title block before export: fill in Document properties… (document designation, developed by, checked by, approved by, organisation, and optional fields). The export then continues by itself.
Each document is written in one language. Translate to… creates a translation in another language with its own text, keeping the tables (re-read in the new language) and the pictures. If the original changes later, the translation is marked and Re-translate section… updates just the sections you choose.
Team templates and document style
- Save as team template… in the document menu saves the current document as a skeleton for new documents of the same type. Tables keep their scope; pictures become empty slots.
- Document style… above the list sets your team's logo, accent colour, font, header and footer text, and up to 20 of your own pages (title page, safety, warranty, contacts) placed before or after the content. It applies to every PDF and DOCX export; stored documents do not change.
Both are reserved for the Technologist role and administrators. Other team members see them greyed out.
The document assistant
The Assistant button in the editor toolbar opens a chat for this document. Ask it to draft the next section, describe the selected step, add a parts list, answer a question about the model or the standard, or translate the document.
- It never writes numbers itself. Every value in its text is a live fact tied to the model, so the text stays right after the model changes.
- It asks when the model has no answer, such as a supplier name or a warranty period, with suggested answers as chips.
- For a GOST or ISO document it follows the standard's skeleton and lists its Sources.
- Nothing goes in without you. A draft arrives as a proposal card, usually within 40 to 90 seconds, scored by a reviewer. Accept or Discard each block, then Accept all inserts the accepted ones as one step you can undo.
A single draft covers up to 6 sections; ask for the rest in the next message.
Who can do what
| Action | Who |
|---|---|
| Open, export and print documents | Every member of the owning team |
| Create, edit, duplicate, translate and delete documents | Every member of the owning team |
| Use the assistant | Team members who have the assistant, on a document they can edit |
| Save team templates, change the document style | The Technologist role and administrators |
| See the Documents tab at all | Not invited collaborators or other teams |
Only one person edits a document at a time. If a colleague saved it in the last few minutes, it opens read-only with their name and a Take over button. A document is also read-only while an older model version is open in the viewer.
Next, see PMI for the requirements a passport's PMI table shows, or Routing for the operations behind the Operations block.