For the Love of Sovelia Inventor Metadata

Don’t Just Manage Metadata — Master It

In my 20+ years of managing CAD systems across a variety of industries and workflows, I’ve had the opportunity to work with most of the major platforms on the market. And yet, I still find myself coming back to Autodesk Inventor. It remains — in my opinion — one of the most stable, intuitive, and powerful CAD solutions available today. It’s flexible, robust, and highly customisable, making it an excellent fit for companies large and small.

But even with all of Inventor’s strengths, there's one area where users often run into limitations: metadata management.

"Why Do We Need Sovelia Inventor? iProperties Works Just Fine... Right?"

This is a common question — one I hear regularly in discussions with engineers, managers, and IT leads alike. The assumption is understandable. After all, Autodesk Inventor comes with iProperties, which allows users to enter and manage basic metadata fields like part numbers, material types, and project info. So why invest in a third-party tool like Sovelia Inventor?

The short answer is: because metadata done right is more than just fields and labels. It’s a foundational piece of your digital workflow. Once your product development, manufacturing, or lifecycle processes reach a certain complexity or scale, iProperties simply doesn’t provide the depth or automation required to keep things running smoothly.

Let’s break down why Sovelia Inventor makes a difference — and where it fills the gaps left by Inventor alone.

WHAT MAKES SOVELIA INVENTOR ESSENTIAL FOR METADATA MANAGEMENT?

1. Custom User Interfaces for Specific Roles and Workflows

Sovelia Inventor allows companies to create role-specific UIs, ensuring each user sees only the metadata fields relevant to their work. Whether you're a design engineer, a project lead, or in quality assurance, your workflow can be streamlined to match how your team operates. This promotes both efficiency and data accuracy, reducing the chance of incorrect or incomplete entries.

2. Dropdowns, Linked Lists & Controlled Inputs

Manual data input is bound to result in inconsistencies. Without dropdown menus or linked metadata fields, two users might enter the same material or project name in slightly different ways — leading to confusion and broken connections downstream. Sovelia Inventor enables the use of standardised input methods, ensuring that data is consistent, controlled, and easy to filter or search later on.

3. Automation with Conditional Logic (If/Then Rules)

With Sovelia, metadata can be dynamically controlled through If/Then logic, allowing values to auto-populate based on other selections. For example, selecting a certain part category can trigger automatic input of associated materials, tolerances, or departments. This kind of smart automation saves significant time while minimizing manual errors.

4. Automatic Measurements and True Size Calculations

Design accuracy is paramount. Sovelia Inventor supports real-time size calculations, ensuring that essential dimensions and tolerances are captured and calculated accurately without manual input. This is especially beneficial in industries where precision is critical and design reviews are data-driven.

5. Data Lookup and External References

In many organisations, CAD isn’t the only data system in play. You may have ERP, PLM, or MRP systems running in parallel. Sovelia Inventor allows metadata to pull in data from external systems through lookup fields, eliminating the need to manually cross-reference between platforms and reducing the risk of inputting outdated or incorrect values...

A Few More Game-Changers

6. Predefined Save Paths for File Consistency

File management is often overlooked — until it's a problem. Sovelia lets administrators define save paths in advance, so users don’t have to guess where things go. This keeps project directories organised and ensures consistency across teams and departments.

7. Case Formatting Rules (Upper/Lower/Mixed)

Consistent capitalisation might seem like a small detail — but in environments with high document volume or multilingual teams, formatting rules help ensure metadata is uniform and readable across the board. Sovelia Inventor allows you to enforce text case rules automatically, improving clarity and reducing post-processing work.

8. Copy Properties Between Models and Drawings

Time is money. Having to re-enter the same information multiple times is inefficient and unnecessary. Sovelia Inventor makes it easy to copy properties from parts to assemblies, from models to drawings, and even within files. It cuts down on repetitive work and ensures data integrity across the entire file chain.

9. Linked Properties for Real-Time Updates

If a part’s description changes or a material gets updated, wouldn’t it be great if every related document reflected that change instantly? With linked properties, Sovelia Inventor ensures that metadata updates cascade across all connected files. This makes managing legacy files and maintaining documentation far more efficient and accurate.

IT ALL STARTS IN THE CAD MODEL 

CAD metadata isn’t just for designers — it powers your entire digital thread. When metadata is structured and maintained correctly at the source (in the CAD model), everyone downstream benefits. Procurement teams know what to buy. Sales teams know what’s available. Maintenance teams know what’s needed.

It’s the difference between confusion and coordination. Between wasted hours and real-time collaboration.

Enhancing Data Retrieval with Vault and Beyond

When paired with systems like Autodesk Vault, Sovelia-enhanced metadata becomes even more valuable. Vault can leverage structured metadata for advanced search, sorting, and filtering, making it much easier to locate files by attributes, part numbers, design status, or approval stage.

Without enriched metadata, finding files in a large Vault environment is like looking for a needle in a haystack. With Sovelia Inventor, it becomes a fast, focused process — unlocking the true potential of your data.

Final Thoughts: Don’t Just Manage Metadata — Master It

There’s a big difference between having metadata and managing metadata effectively. Autodesk Inventor gives you a solid foundation, but Sovelia Inventor takes it several steps further — adding structure, automation, and intelligence that transform metadata from a burden into a strategic advantage.

If your business relies on CAD data — and if efficiency, consistency, and accuracy matter — it’s worth looking beyond iProperties. Sovelia Inventor can help you unlock workflows that are faster, smarter, and far more aligned with your company's goals.

Because in the end, great products start with great data — and great data starts in the CAD model.

                                                      Need Help? Talk to Symetri

Every engineering team has unique needs. If you’re unsure how to best implement Sovelia Inventor or Sovelia Vault in your workflow, our experts at Symetri are here to help. Reach out to us for a consultation or tailored advice.