Brian:
First let me say I appreciate your hard work with this committee.
I would like to see a selection to export a search path based on the current status of an assembly.
Here is how I imagine it working:
One opens an assembly model with or without a search path. The items loaded may be commodity items or specific versions of a part file stored in specific locations. It may be that when initially opened the parts are not found but after tediously searching for the items one can search around for them. Then one exports the current full path of all items as a single text file thus creating a search.pro file which applies to this specific version of your assembly.
I am sure there are other ways to acheive a similar result but I think this is the easiest way to ensure a complicated assembly which is loaded is reproduced in your next session.
Thanks,
Keith