![\"External_References_1\"](\"http:\/\/www.solidapps.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/External_References_1.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIf you need to find and select all components that have broken external references, SolidWorks can find them for you with the Advanced Select. Go to Tools > Component Selection > Advanced Select (or pick Advanced Select from the Select fly-out list).<\/p>\n
In the Define Search Criteria<\/em> tab, select \u201cIn Context relations\u201d in the Category1 list, \u201cHas broken external references\u201d in the Category2 list, and \u201cis yes\u201d in the Condition list.<\/p>\n This search criteria can be saved for future use by typing into the \u201cName of Search\u201d field and click the Save icon that appears to the right of the field.<\/p>\n Clicking Apply will run the search and highlight any parts it finds. The search can be added to your favourites from the Manage Searches tab. Click the tick box and you\u2019re done. This will now show in the Select tools fly-out list.<\/p>\n Another way to see which components in your assembly have external references is through Assembly Visualization, which provides different ways to display and sort an assembly’s components in a list and in the graphics area. You can sort the list by one property at a time or create more complex sorting scenarios involving several different properties, for example sort by parts with external references.<\/p>\n To use this go to Tools > Assembly Visualization, and FeatureManager click More\u2026<\/p>\n From the list of columns, pick External Reference.<\/p>\n You can sort by the new column, set it to group\/ungroup parts, flat or nested view, and adjust the colours using the sliders on the left of the pane.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n