As your database in Smart Electrical expands, the need to organize the various item types into sub-categories becomes apparent. Using custom folders, you can create sub-folders for each item type folder. You can use these folders to divide item types into smaller more manageable sections, for example within Wiring Equipment > Cables > Power Cables you could divide the cables by manufacturer, cable specification, or insulation material. Using filters, you can place power cables into more than one folder, for example you could create a folder for all power cables manufactured by a specific company, and another folder for all power cables that meet NEC specifications, a power cable manufactured by the specific company and that has an NEC specification appears in the folder created for the manufacturer, and appears in the folder created for NEC specification power cables, along with all other power cables that have NEC specifications. The software creates the duplicate items without moving the original item from the Electrical Index or the Reference Data Explorer.
Creating custom folders also improves the performance of Smart Electrical when you are looking for items in the Electrical Index. Due to the large number of items that folders in the Electrical Index may contain, opening a folder can take some time. Creating a custom folder, for the first time, also creates a second sub-folder that contains all the items of the parent folder. This is the All Items folder. Storing all the parent folder items in the All Items folder and creating custom folders reduces the time the software takes to open the parent folder and the custom folders. Also, when Smart Electrical searches the Electrical Index for an item, the software first searches the custom folders and only searches the All Items folder if the item cannot be found in a custom folder.
In the Electrical Index, the definition of custom folders is set per user. In the Reference Data Explorer, it's per plant.