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cheinrich3-Newcomer
3-Newcomer
October 23, 2025
Solved

Unwanted Drawing Revision

  • October 23, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 454 views

Version: Windchill 11.2

 

Use Case: I want to roll back a drawing revision.


Description:

Using Creo 10.0.8.0.  We created a drawing weeks ago and assigned a number at rev _-. Checked the drawing in but never released it. Engineering decided to change the part number and when I renamed it, the number change was accepted but the rev level seemed to auto-advance to _A without any prompting from me to do so. The only way I can see to get back to rev_- is to delete the drawing and start over. Is there another way to do this? I have this same problem with a couple of other drawings that had been released but not signed off by everyone (so not 'officially' released in my organization) and now there is a part number change required for those drawings that should not necessarily require a revision either. What seems like not so many years ago (to me), this was a drafter level function, pull down tab and you could go backwards if needed.  Any ideas? Thanks.

Best answer by Dobi

To your first point of "I want to roll back a drawing revision", there are a couple of ways to go depending on how your Windchill is setup. 

  • Delete the latest revision (this community post covers it)
  • Turn on "Allow check out of non-latest iterations" in preferences for the context your drawing is in. This will allow you to add the original drawing at the rev_- to a new workspace. The preference will allow you to check that rev drawing in as the next latest. 
  • The easy "start over option" where you save the rev you want as a new drawing with the name you want

Each of these comes with it's own downsides as you can imagine.

Deleting data means you lose the data. Checking out non-latest iterations means you're potentially overwriting someone else's work. But it's preserved. The start over option still requires you to play renaming roulette with the old files and the new to make sure you don't have naming conflicts. 

If you're just looking to "view" older versions of a drawing, you can do that just about as simply as a pull down (add to workspace the version you want from the Commonspace History tab view).

 

The part number change and the comment that the drawing "auto-advanced to rev_A" are curious. 

Part number changes impact the entire version history tree. Is this a business process decision that you start with one part number and then at some point the same files transitions to (or becomes) a different part number? Do you not need a record of the original PN? Why not just "save-as" and have the save-as table displayed to see what part was used as the start? 

And a part auto-advancing rev is curious because a rev change in Windchill creates a new object id (OID). An iteration is on the same OID. Your rename action caused the revision to increment? 

 

 

2 replies

D
17-Peridot
Dobi17-PeridotAnswer
17-Peridot
October 24, 2025

To your first point of "I want to roll back a drawing revision", there are a couple of ways to go depending on how your Windchill is setup. 

  • Delete the latest revision (this community post covers it)
  • Turn on "Allow check out of non-latest iterations" in preferences for the context your drawing is in. This will allow you to add the original drawing at the rev_- to a new workspace. The preference will allow you to check that rev drawing in as the next latest. 
  • The easy "start over option" where you save the rev you want as a new drawing with the name you want

Each of these comes with it's own downsides as you can imagine.

Deleting data means you lose the data. Checking out non-latest iterations means you're potentially overwriting someone else's work. But it's preserved. The start over option still requires you to play renaming roulette with the old files and the new to make sure you don't have naming conflicts. 

If you're just looking to "view" older versions of a drawing, you can do that just about as simply as a pull down (add to workspace the version you want from the Commonspace History tab view).

 

The part number change and the comment that the drawing "auto-advanced to rev_A" are curious. 

Part number changes impact the entire version history tree. Is this a business process decision that you start with one part number and then at some point the same files transitions to (or becomes) a different part number? Do you not need a record of the original PN? Why not just "save-as" and have the save-as table displayed to see what part was used as the start? 

And a part auto-advancing rev is curious because a rev change in Windchill creates a new object id (OID). An iteration is on the same OID. Your rename action caused the revision to increment? 

 

 

    C
    cheinrich3-NewcomerAuthor
    3-Newcomer
    October 24, 2025

    Thanks Dobi, I will give one of these a try and let you know. Changing established drawing numbers is absolutely not a normal way for us to conduct business and these are still in the early stages ( maybe 6-8 in total and still subject to design change) which is why starting over was not an absolute disaster. Rolling back the revision is something that we run across more often and would be helpful to me. It was, as I think I mentioned, an easy fix years ago with the pull down tab. The rev level roll back is the more common issue for me than re-naming. Thank you for our help, I really appreciate it. PTC support leaves a lot to be desired so this is useful to me.

    avillanueva
    23-Emerald I
    avillanueva23-Emerald I
    23-Emerald I
    October 24, 2025

    without revealing personal details, can you post a screen shot of the history tab of this drawing? Note that if you need to delete things, it might require admin if folks have this drawing in their workspace. @Dobi has some great points and looks like has your solution. I suspect you might have a customization that is doing the revise on rename since that does not appear to be OOTB behavior. 

    C
    cheinrich3-NewcomerAuthor
    3-Newcomer
    October 24, 2025

    Thank you, I will give Dobi’s suggestions a try and if I still have issues I’ll let you know. Thank you for your reply, I do appreciate it.

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