Tech Tip: Hiding Sensitive Design Data in Onshape Publications

Onshape Publications provide a controlled, view-only way to share design data with external users, suppliers, or manufacturing teams.

While they are commonly used to distribute approved CAD data, Publications also help control what information is exposed when sharing designs outside your organization.

This Tech Tip explains how to use Publications to hide sensitive design details such as BOM data, feature history, and configuration options, while still providing access to the required geometry and documentation.

What Are Onshape Publications?

Onshape Publications are a way to package and share selected design data from an Onshape document in a controlled, view-only format.

To create a publication, navigate to the Documents page, click Create, and select Publication. Once the publication is created, select Insert document tabs and choose the document containing the items you want to share.

You can then select specific versions of parts, assemblies, drawings, and other files to share without exposing the full design workspace.

Unlike sharing a full document, Publications give you control over what external users can see, and do not provide access to version history or other document tabs, making them useful for collaboration with suppliers and manufacturers.

For step-by-step instructions on creating Publications and managing their content, learn more here.

What Viewers Can Do in a Publication

Depending on permissions, viewers can navigate 3D models, switch between tabs (such as parts, assemblies, drawings, and supporting files), and use tools such as measure, section view, and basic analysis tools.

They can also access model properties and Bill of Materials (BOM) data, explore configurations when enabled, and export files in different formats.

To learn more about navigating Publications as a view-only user, check out this Tech Tip.

This level of access makes Publications very powerful for design review and validation. However, it also means that a wide range of detailed design information can be exposed.

In many cases, this level of detail is not appropriate for external sharing, which is why controlling what is included in a Publication is important.

Publishing Without Exposing Design History

When sharing a Part Studio with multiple parts, you may want to limit access to only specific parts and avoid exposing the full design history.

Rather than sharing the full feature list and modeling steps, a better approach is to publish only the final approved result using Onshape’s Release management process.

Start in a Part Studio and release only the parts you want to share externally. This ensures only approved data is eligible for publication. Learn how to use Onshape’s Release management.

In the publication, click Insert document tabs. In the Insert dialog, first navigate to the document containing the items you want to share, then use the filter (triangle icon) to display only released items. Finally, select the required parts or assemblies to insert.

As a result, only released items are exposed in the publication, with the feature list and non-released design data remaining hidden. This way, external users see only the final approved geometry and can still fully interact with the model, including measuring geometry, inspecting properties, and using standard view tools for review and validation.

Locking Configurations in Publications

When using configurations, first release the configured state you want to publish in either a Part Studio or Assembly. This ensures only the approved configuration is eligible for sharing.

Within the publication, select Insert document tabs, and use the release filter (triangle icon) in the Insert dialog to select only released configurations before inserting them.

Inside the publication, the configuration panel is locked, meaning users cannot switch between configurations or generate new variants. They can only view the approved released state.

Controlling BOM Visibility in Publications

In some cases, you may not want to share the Bill of Materials (BOM), especially when it includes internal part numbers, supplier data, or cost information.

When an Assembly is inserted into a publication, it typically includes BOM access along with tools like Exploded views and Named positions, which may expose unnecessary detail.

A simple way to hide the BOM is to place the assembly into a new assembly and use the “Suppress from this BOM” option on selected components or the assembly itself. You can then publish this simplified assembly instead, without requiring a release process, while still keeping full model viewing and inspection capabilities.

Watch the video below for more:

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