Default Explode Behaviour

The default explode only moves top level entities, though the default is never good.

When creating an explode state, there are no settings to limit explode to top level parts/subassemblies.  You just have to be careful to pick only top level items.  That can be done through query selection or model tree selection.

Would be a nice addition to add a check box under Options to limit selection to top level items and have it selected by default.  I would support this as an Idea in the forum.

I don't believe there is a setting for controlling how many "levels down" the default explode goes. I usually just reset everything and then make my view manually (which can be a pain, but the default usually messes things up more).

In the view manager, you can select the "Edit" drop down and click "Toggle Display Status".

Then in the dropdown next to the Model Tree filter bar, select "Parts"

Then, starting at the first part, shift select the last part on the tree so every part is selected. Click "done". This will reset everything the position of every part in the Default Explode.

I will never understand why the default just explodes everything and is a pain to reset. Most people just make a new explode state, but I never liked having "Default Explode" and "Actual Default Explode" in all of my models. 

Hopefully in later releases of Creo this gets fixed and the default can actually be reset with less steps.