This is driving me crazy! or maybe I'm crazy....lol
I just created an assembly with 13 parts and I have 2 problems:
1) I exploded the assembly and I saved. When I try to open it again, it's no longer exploded or it's partially exploded. I tried this 2 or 3 times whith the same results.
2) When I tried to create the assembly drawing, it's only partially exploded. I tried to expode it manually, but how do you move the components in a straight line or in the same axis?
You didn't say HOW you did the "exploding", but let me guess. Sounds like you went to 'View>Explode>Explode View', then 'View>Explode>Edit position' where you can modify the default explode state. But this doesn't save with the model, it's just teaser functionality, to give you a taste of what you can do with real explode states.
To create one of these, go to 'View>View Manager>Explode'. Click New from the menu, type in a name or accept the default, hit return to accept it, then RMB 'Redefine' and pick Position. When you are done adjusting the position and click OK, you go back to the View Manager Explode page where you can RMB on your named exploded view and pick 'Unexplode'. Any time you want to see this explode state again, you go back to this View Manager tab, pick the named state and RMB 'Set Active'. This view DOES save with the model.
If you're having trouble controlling the movement of components, you might not be selecting the Motion Reference first. By default, Motion Type is set to Translate and Motion Reference geometry type is set to Entity/Edge and it is ready to make a selection. When you've picked an edge or an axis, it automatically lets you pick a component to move. I'm pretty sure it lets you pick only straight edges so the movement of the component must be straight. If you had View Plane seleted as your Motion Reference, movement would be more loosely defined and harder to control. Also, check out Preferences: Move Many and Move with Children are useful for such things as getting a lid with all its fasteners moved with everything keeping their relative alignment. But, if you forget and do something wrong, hit the Undo at the bottom. It, along with Redo, will step you backwards and forwards through your selections and positioning activity.
If you don't even have this functionality in the View Manager for creating/editing named explode states, you probably need to get an Advanced Assembly license. BTW, when you said you needed Xmas help, I thought maybe you were talking about trimming your model tree.