About assembly and part classes

Classes let you organize parts and assemblies so you can locate what you need when creating a takeoff, purchase order, or other document. In the 9-4 Part/Assembly Classes window, you can set up separate hierarchies for parts and assemblies. In each hierarchy, sort the parts and assemblies into meaningful groups.

When you open the 9-4 Part/Assembly Classes window for the first time, it contains a single class titled 0-All Classes. This permanent class contains all the parts and assemblies in the databases. If you cannot locate a part or assembly because it was assigned to an incorrect class or a class was deleted without moving the contents elsewhere, look in 0-All Classes.

Assign a class number to each class you create. The class number can contain up to six digits and does not need to relate to the part or assembly numbers. Under each class, you can create additional classes referred to as subclasses.

Subclasses provide a means of creating smaller and smaller groups of assemblies or parts. The subclass should not be so broad that you have to look through a huge number of items or so small as to contain only a few items. Generally, a subclass should contain no more than 40 or 50 items. If the number of items in a subclass becomes too large, create more subclasses to better group the items.

Suppose that you are setting up classes for doors, and determine that you need to create classes for metal doors, wood doors, glass doors, special doors, and door installation. With so many different types of metal and wood doors, you decide to further subdivide the categories. Under the metal door class, you create classes for prehung metal doors, field-hung metal doors, overhead-rigid metal doors, coiling metal doors, entrance metal doors, and security and gate metal doors. Under the class for wood doors, you create classes for prehung wood doors, field-hung wood doors, garage wood doors, and entrance wood doors.