PDF parts manuals vs interactive 3D catalogs.
A PDF parts manual is familiar, prints well and works offline. It’s also where most wrong-part orders start. Here’s how the two compare, and why with Assembly Atlas you don’t have to give up the PDF.
Side by side.
The jobs a parts manual has to do, and how each format handles them.
| The job | PDF parts manual | Interactive 3D catalog |
|---|---|---|
| Finding the right part | Match a callout number on a fixed drawing to a row in a table. Hard when parts overlap or the view hides them. | Turn the model, take it apart step by step, and click the part. It’s picked out in 3D and in the list. |
| Part numbers | Typed into the table by hand when the manual was made. | From your BOM, on every part, and searchable across every model in your parts portal. |
| Price and stock | Not shown, or out of date as soon as it’s printed. | Live from your price list, updated without republishing. |
| Ordering | Copy part numbers into an email, a phone call or a store search. | Add to your store’s cart, or send a parts request with part numbers, quantities and serial number filled in. |
| Serial numbers | Footnotes like “before serial 1200 use 4-0950”, easy to miss. | Enter the serial and see the parts for that machine; replaced numbers point to the new part. |
| Revisions | Redraw, re-export and redistribute. Old copies stay in circulation. | Import the new STEP file, review it, publish. Everyone sees the current version, and the previous ones are kept. |
| On a phone | Pinch and scroll around a page made for paper. | Made for touch: turn, explode and tap on any phone or tablet. |
| Knowing what people need | No idea who opened it or what they looked for. | Reports on which parts people look at, search for, can’t find and order. |
| Offline and in the binder | Prints, files and works with no signal. | Prints too: every catalog makes a numbered PDF parts manual on demand. |
You don’t have to give up the PDF.
Some customers want paper, and some dealers keep binders. Every Assembly Atlas catalog prints as a parts manual: a cover, the numbered exploded view with its parts list, a page per teardown step, and the service notes. Press Parts manual in the demo to see it.
What it takes to switch.
Less than redrawing a manual. Assembly Atlas starts from the CAD your engineers already have.
Export a STEP file
From SolidWorks, Inventor, Creo, Fusion or any CAD tool, plus your BOM as a spreadsheet if you have one.
Review the catalog
The explode is worked out for you. Adjust it, hide confidential parts, add service notes, and approve it.
Publish both
Put the 3D catalog on your website and parts portal, and print the PDF manual from the same catalog for anyone who wants paper.
Common questions.
About moving from PDF manuals to 3D catalogs.
Do we need 3D models of every product?
You need a STEP file of each assembly you want as a catalog. Most manufacturers already have them from engineering; older products without CAD can stay as PDFs while newer ones move over.
Will our dealers still get printed manuals?
Yes. Any catalog prints as a numbered parts manual, and because it comes from the catalog, the print is always the current revision.
Does it work without an internet connection?
The 3D catalog needs a connection to load. For places without one, print the parts manual from it beforehand.
Can customers see parts we don’t want to share?
No. Parts you mark as hidden are removed from the published catalog file entirely, not just hidden on screen.
Send us a STEP file and the PDF manual for the same product. We’ll show you both side by side.
We’ll set it up with your own CAD so you can judge it on your products, not ours.