Engineers Asked, We Answered: Onshape Workflows, Revisions, and Release Management

If you’re making the switch to Onshape, or simply looking to optimize how your team uses it, you’ve likely encountered some fundamental differences from traditional, file-based CAD systems.

Onshape’s built-in data management, branching and merging capabilities, and cloud-native architecture offer powerful new ways to work, but they also bring up new questions about processes. How should you handle a part number change? What’s the most efficient way to manage custom workflows or automatically export files during a release?

Whether you’re deciding between branches and new documents, navigating the differences between versions and revisions, or looking to centralize your custom properties, getting these foundational decisions right is key to keeping your design data clean and your team aligned.

We’re tackling some of the most common questions we hear from engineering teams about configuring Onshape for robust data and release management.

Does Onshape support top-down or bottom-up design history?

Onshape supports both. Part Studios hold multiple parts in one feature list, which naturally supports top-down design: skeleton sketches and shared references drive many parts at once, with no external reference files to manage. Assemblies instance parts and subassemblies from anywhere, which supports bottom-up work, and Context lets you design in place when you need to. Most teams use a mix. As for document history, the version graph and history record every change by every user, in order, and you can restore any point.

READ: 7 Ways Onshape Enables Better Top-Down Design Approach

Onshape vs. SOLIDWORKS PDM: What’s the main difference?

SOLIDWORKS PDM is a separate vault that manages files: check-out, check-in, locking, local caches, and a server to maintain. In Onshape, data management is built into the CAD itself. There are no files to lock, so multiple people can edit the same design at once, every change is recorded automatically, and Onshape Branching and Merging work the way they do in software development. A rejected release in Onshape is simply canceled, because the data doesn't change until the release completes, so there's nothing to roll back.

COMPARE CAD SOFTWARE: Onshape vs. SOLIDWORKS

What is the difference between a Version and a Revision in Onshape?

A Version is an immutable snapshot of the entire document at a point in time. Anyone with edit access can create one, as often as they like, and it carries no formal status. A Revision is a formally released state of a specific part, assembly, or drawing, tied to a part number and a revision scheme (A, B, C or 1, 2, 3), created through Onshape release management. Every revision points back to a version, but most versions never become revisions.

TECH TIP: When and How to Use Versions vs. Revisions

Can Onshape automatically export neutral files (STEP/PDF) during a release?

With the Onshape-Arena Connection, yes. When a release is submitted, Arena PLM generates PDFs for drawings and STEP files for parts (watermarked until the change is approved), then regenerates them without the watermark once the change is effective. Without Arena, bulk export takes a couple of clicks: activate the version that contains the released items, open the Tab Manager, turn on the Released filter, combine it with a type filter, and export everything at once. Export rules handle file naming. For fully hands-off exports to a network location or ERP, use the REST API with a webhook on release.

TECH TIP: Syncing Onshape Release Management with Arena PLM and Automating File Export

Can you manage multiple releases using configurations in Onshape?

Yes. Each configuration can have its own part number and properties, and each can be released and revised on its own schedule. This works well when the client variants share most of their geometry. If the client versions diverge significantly in design intent, branches or separate documents keep things cleaner.

LEARN: What are CAD Configurations?

Should new part numbers in Onshape live on a branch or a new document?

If the new part number supersedes an existing part, create a branch within the same document. Make the change on the branch, update the part number, merge to Main, and release. The full design history stays together, the previous revision remains released at its version, and it can be obsoleted when the time comes. Create a new document (Copy workspace) when both part numbers will be sustained independently for a long time, for different products or customers, with their own release cadence and owners. If the two differ only in a few driving dimensions or features, consider configurations instead, since each configuration can have its own part number.

TECH TIP: How to Assign Part Numbers for Referenced Parts in an Onshape Assembly

How do you add rules and conditions to an Onshape obsoletion workflow?

Enterprise customers can build custom obsoletion workflows. Onshape defines release and obsoletion workflows in a JSON file where you set the states, transitions, approvers, required properties, and the final action. In an obsoletion workflow, the final action (obsoleteItems) moves everything in the package to Obsolete. You can also require properties at obsoletion, such as how to dispose of the inventory of the obsoleted items.

TECH TIP: How to Safely Delete Obsolete Designs with Onshape

How to automatically rename parts using custom properties in Onshape?

Professional and Enterprise users can auto-assign part numbers from company numbering schemes at release, and Onshape release management flags a part number that’s already in use. Automatically renaming the part name from other property values requires FeatureScript (for computed properties or a custom naming feature) or an API app. Part names don’t need to be unique, so checking for duplicate names would also require an API app to search before renaming.

EXPLORE: CAD Customization with Onshape FeatureScript

How to centrally control custom property values in Onshape?

Yes. Company or Enterprise admins define custom properties centrally, including the data type, the list of allowed values, which object types and categories a property applies to, and whether it's required at release. Users pick from what the admin has defined.

TECH TIP: How to Keep Your Product Designs Organized

Does Onshape have a drag-and-drop editor for custom workflows?

Not today. Workflows are authored in JSON, though you don’t start from scratch. Onshape supplies its default release and obsoletion workflows as JSON templates to modify, and once a workflow is published, the Onshape release management settings page shows an illustration of it so everyone can see the process. The workflow JSON lives in a regular Onshape document, so it gets the same versioning and history as your CAD data.

TECH TIP: Enforcing Required Properties in Release Management Workflows

Should custom workflow development in Onshape be restricted to admins?

Yes, and Onshape enforces this. Custom workflows are managed through Enterprise settings, and publishing or unpublishing workflows requires the Manage workflows global permission. End users should be informed of the process. The admin team should build it, test it on a sample part, and control changes, because a workflow change affects every release in the company.

Making Better Decisions About Data, Revisions, and Releases

Whether evaluating Onshape release management, versions and revisions, branching and merging, configurations, or custom workflows, the most effective workflows are the ones that align with how a team develops and releases products. Building a clear strategy for data organization early helps reduce administrative overhead, improves traceability, and creates a foundation that can grow alongside increasingly complex products and engineering teams.