PDM provides two ways to manage inheritance of application data across products: Link Application Data and the Bundle Feature. Both help reduce duplicate work by allowing products to share applications, but they serve different purposes depending on the level of detail you need.
Link/Inherit Applications Data
What it does: Lets you connect a child product to one or more parent products. The child product inherits all application data directly assigned to the parent.
How it works:
One parent product can inherit to multiple children.
One child product can also inherit from multiple parents.
Inherited applications appear with a blue background and show the source part number.
Limitations:
No multiple layers of inheritance (children only inherit directly from parents).
You cannot assign details like order, qualifiers, notes, or positions.
Best for: Quick linking when you simply want products to share the same applications without adding extra information.
For more information on the step-by-step process, please visit this article.
Bundle Feature
What it does: Builds on Link Application Data by giving you more control over the relationship between parent and child products.
Key capabilities:
Assign multiple children to a parent product from one place.
Set order of child products.
Add reference text, notes, qualifiers, positions, and quantities.
Control which application IDs are inherited by each child.
Requirements:
This is an add-on feature. Contact us via chat if you’d like it enabled.
You must have edit rights for all child brands to make changes.
Best for: Teams that need detailed control over inheritance—such as organizing bundles, assigning qualifiers, or adding structured notes.
For more information on the step-by-step process, please visit this article.
The Bundle feature is an add-on. If you're interested in this feature, send us a message through chat; we'll be happy to assist you.
In other words:
Use Link Application Data if you just need straightforward inheritance between parent and child products.
Use the Bundle Feature if you need structured, detailed control over multiple inheritance relationships.
Can I switch from Link Applications to Bundle?
Yes. If your account currently uses Link Applications, you can transition to the Bundle Feature.
Enabling Bundle does not automatically remove existing linked applications. The parent-child relationships remain in place, and inherited applications continue to be available.
Existing links may appear directly in the Bundle interface, allowing you to manage them using the additional Bundle options.
However, there are a few things to consider before making the transition:
Only one feature is active at a time. Bundle provides the advanced functionality for managing application inheritance.
Multi-level inheritance is not supported. Products that inherit applications from another product cannot also act as Bundle parents.
Excel import behavior changes. With Bundle enabled, application inheritance relationships are managed through the separate App Inheriting sheet.
Disabling Bundle can remove existing links. If a Bundle has linked child products, turning it off and confirming the action will unlink them.
We recommend reviewing your existing linked applications and import workflows before enabling Bundle.