Many Solid Edge documents contain links to other Solid Edge files. A good example would be assembly files which contain links to sub assemblies and part files.

How does Solid Edge determine where a linked file is located?

Solid Edge has a default set of rules to determine where it will look for the referenced files. The four rules that Solid Edge uses are:
1. Container
2. Relative Path
3. Absolute Path
4. User specified path(s)
Solid Edge will start with the first rule to find the reference file. If it fails to find the specified file it will look for the file using the second rule and so forth.

What do these rules mean?

To explain these rules we can use the example of an assembly stored in “c:\myprojects\project ABC\main.asm”. This assembly uses a part stored as “c:\myprojects\project ABC\frame\ibeam1.par”
Container: Look for the part in the same folder as the assembly. In our example: “c:\myprojects\project ABC\ibeam1.par”. Note that it doesn't look at the sub folder “frame”
Relative Path: Look for the component in the same relative position as before, i.e. “..\frame\ibeam1.par” which resolves to “c:\myprojects\project ABC\frame\ibeam1.par”
Absolute Path: Look for the component in the exact location, i.e. “c:\myprojects\project ABC\frame\ibeam1.par”

What effect does these rules have when I move files?

Lets presume in the example above that we move only the assembly file to a new location say “d:\projectDEF\main.asm”. The rules will now look for the part file as follows:
Container: Look for the part in the same folder as the assembly. In our example: “d:\projectDEF\ibeam1.par”
Relative Path: Look for the component in the same relative position as before, i.e. “..\frame\ibeam1.par which resolves to “d:\projectDEF\frame\ibeam1.par”
Absolute Path: Look for the component in the exact location, i.e. “c:\myprojects\project ABC\frame\ibeam1.par”

Can I set the priority of the rules?

There is a text document in the Solid Edge install folder which specifies the order of the rules. It also allows for the user to add additional search locations. The text document is called LinkMgmt.txt (short for Link Management) and can be located as follows:
Solid Edge V19: c:\program files\solid edge v19\program\linkmgmt.txt
Solid Edge V20: c:\program files\solid edge v20\program\linkmgmt.txt
Solid Edge ST1: c:\program files\solid edge st\program\linkmgmt.txt
Solid Edge ST2: not known yet
The contents of the default file looks as follows:

One can change the search order and add additional paths as show below: