The working folder contains read-only copies of files that have been checked out from a vault. When a file is checked out,
the checked out version from the vault replaces the file in the working folder and becomes read-write for editing. When the
file is checked back into the vault, the local version in the working folder returns to read-only.
You can specify a different working folder or set up a shared working folder for multiple users.
Change the Working Folder
Because the working folder is already defined for you, it is not necessary to specify a working folder to begin using a vault.
The vault administrator can enforce a new standard location, ensuring that all users have the same working folder defined.
You can change the location of the working folder; however, a custom location cannot be specified if the administrator is
currently enforcing the location. If the administrator enforces a location for the working folder, any custom location is
overridden.
Each vault has a root level folder. The root level of a vault is denoted by a $. If setting your own working folder location,
the best practice is to set it from the root level of the vault.
NoteThe working folder must be set from the root level of the vault to a local folder for AutoCAD, and AutoCAD Mechanical files.
The Vault add-in for AutoCAD ignores folders set as a working folder that are not set at the root ($).
Procedure: Change the Working Folder
NoteRegardless of the vault folder that is selected, the working folder is set to the vault root, $.
- Select File > Set Working Folder.
- In the Browse for Folder dialog box, navigate to a location on the local computer for the working folder.
- Click OK.
Share a Working Folder
Each user has a unique working folder, isolated from other users. However, depending on your design requirements, you can
specify a working folder that is located on a shared network drive, creating a shared working folder that all users access.
In a multi-user environment, a shared working folder keeps all the working files consistently located in the same working
folder. This prevents the lag between the upload to the server by one user and the subsequent download to all other users.
NoteA shared working folder is recommended for the AutoCAD Electrical environment, especially in a multi-user situation, because
it enables you and your design team to keep all files up-to-date.
A shared workspace can be used with:
- Autodesk Vault
- The Vault Add-in for AutoCAD-based design applications
- The Vault Add-in for Microsoft Office
Rules for Using a Shared Working Folder
Using a shared working folder means that multiple users may be working on the same files concurrently. To protect the group's
data, all users must log into the vault before performing any file operations.
Note If a user does not log in, there is no way to verify that a file is checked out and the data is at risk of being overwritten.
The following guidelines will help prevent you from overwriting the changes made by someone else.
- If a file is currently checked out to another user, you cannot perform the following operations:
- Get Latest Version
- Get Previous Version
- Check Out
- Undo Check Out
- Reload (AutoCAD add-in only)
- You cannot check out a file that is currently opened for read-write by another user.
NoteYou can check out a file that is opened for read-only by another user.
- You can open a file as read-only when it is currently checked out to someone else using the same working folder.
Set up a Shared Working Folder
To use a shared working folder, the system administrator enforces a working folder on a shared network location for all project
members to use.
NoteYou must be assigned the role of Administrator to perform this action.
- Launch Autodesk Vault and then log in as an administrator.
- Select Tools > Administration > Vault Settings.
- In the Vault Settings dialog box, click the Files tab
- In the Working Folder section, click Define.
- On the Working Folder Options dialog, select Enforce a consistent working folder for all clients.
- Specify the shared network location for the working folder in the Client Working Folder field or browse for a location.
NoteThe path to the shared working folder can be:
- a network path: \\designco\users\jstewart
- a path containing a system variable for a directory: \\designco\users\%username%
- Click OK.
- On the Vault Settings dialog box, click Close.
Browse the Working Folder
- In Autodesk Vault, right-click a folder in the tree view, and then select Browse. The contents of the selected folder are
displayed in a Microsoft Windows Explorer window.
Manage Shared Workspaces
The topics in this section address workflows and tricks for managing your workspace.
Synchronize Your Workspace
When you get or check out files, files are copied from the vault to your local working folder or workspace. Over time, your
workspace may accumulate files that are no longer necessary or stray files that are not meant to be managed by a vault. Use
the Workspace Sync command to clean unnecessary files from the workspace and keep it up to date.
The Workspace Sync command compares the contents of the workspace with the contents of the corresponding vault to verify which
files need to be updated either in the workspace or in the vault and which files need to be removed from the workspace. Depending
on your settings, the last modified date, the current revision, or the current revision with released biased is used to determine
whether or not a file needs to be updated.
By adjusting synchronization settings, you can specify:
- which files in the workspace are automatically deleted
- an expiration date for local files
- whether or not empty folders are removed
There are two modes for synchronizing your workspace:
- Workspace Sync - before synchronizing, you can select which local files are synchronized and specify more advanced settings such as expiration
dates and file exceptions
- Quick Sync - synchronizes the files immediately, using the default settings.
NoteMultiple vaults mapped to the same working folder is not supported.
Synchronize Your Workspace
There are two modes for synchronizing your workspace:
- Workspace Sync - before synchronizing, you can select which local files are synchronized and specify more advanced settings such as expiration
dates and file exceptions
- Quick Sync - synchronizes the files immediately, using the default settings.
Workspace Sync
Specify advanced settings and select particular files to syncrhonize by following these steps.
- From the Workspace Sync drop-down menu, select Workspace Sync.
- The Workspace Synchronization dialog is displayed. The local workspace is scanned before synchronizing to determine which
files need to be updated or removed.
- In the Workspace Synchronization Wizard, the files to be synchronized are displayed. You specify which files are synchronized
using the check boxes. Turn on a check box to include a file in the synchronization process. Turn off a check box to exclude
a file from the synchronization process. The total number of files to be removed and the total number of files to be downloaded
are displayed at the bottom of the wizard.
- Download - New: if the parent of a file is updated and the new version or revision uses a file that is not in the local workspace, the file
not in the local workspace is retrieved from the vault.
- Download - Overwrite: the files that are currently in the local workspace and will be updated with new versions or revisions from the vault, depending
on your settings. If the local file is currently locked because it is open for editing, it will not be overwritten.
- Expired - Unmanaged: the files that are in the local workspace but are not being managed by the vault and have not been modified within the expiration
time frame specified in the Workspace Sync Settings dialog.
- Expired - Managed: the files that are in the local workspace and managed by the vault that have not been modified within the expiration time
frame specified in the Workspace Sync Settings dialog.
- Expired - Hidden: the hidden visualization files that are in the local workspace and managed by the vault that have not been modified within
the expiration time frame specified in the Workspace Sync Settings dialog.
NoteRemoved files are placed in the Windows Recycle Bin.
- Click Settings to specify update preferences, which file extensions to delete, and expiration rules.
- Click Finish. The local workspace is synchronized using the specified settings.
- When the synchronization is complete, the results are summarized in a report. The report lists those files which were successfully
downloaded and those which were successfully removed, as well as the files which unsuccessfully synchronized.
- You can choose to generate a report as a (.csv) file and save it locally or in the vault, or print it by performing one of
these options:
- To save the report locally, click Save. On the Save As dialog, navigate to the folder structure where you want to store the
file locally. Enter a name for the report and click Save.
- To save the report in a vault, Click Send to Vault to display a list of vault folders. Select the vault in which you want
the report saved, enter a name for the report, and click Save.
- To print the report, click Print and specify your printing options.
- Click Close.
Quick Sync
You can synchronize files immediately using the default settings by following these steps.
- From the Workspace Sync drop-down menu, select Quick Sync.
- The Workspace Synchronization dialog is displayed. The local workspace is scanned before synchronizing to determine which
files need to be updated or removed. If a large number of files need to be updated, you are warned that continuing may impact
server performance. Click Yes to continue with Quick Sync or click No to cancel the operation.
- The synchronization is performed using the default settings.
- Click Cancel to stop the Quick Sync at any time.
- If any files failed to be synchronized, the results are summarized in a report. The report lists those files which were successfully
downloaded and those which were successfully removed, as well as the files which unsuccessfully synchronized. Click Report
to create a commas separated value (.csv) file of the report. Click Print to print the summary.
Synchronize Your Workspace from the Command Line
You can run workspace synchronization from the command line. Using the command line, you can create a script or an event in
Windows Task Scheduler to automate workspace synchronization.
- Click Windows Start > Run, and then enter cmd in the Run dialog box.
- Change directories to the install directory for Autodesk Vault. By default, this path is C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk
Vault [version]\Explorer.
- At the command line, type: Connectivity.WorkspaceSync.exe followed by the command line options, and then press Enter.
| -WA
|
Use Windows authentication to log into the Vault server (optional).
|
| -Nserver\databasename
|
The name of the server and the database to be synchronized (required).
|
| -VUusername
|
The user name of the vault account. (This flag is optional if Windows authentication is used. It is required if the Windows
authentication flag is not used).
|
| -VPpassword
|
The vault account password (required unless password is blank).
|
| -S
|
The full path to a valid synchronization settings file (optional). The synchronization settings file specifies the syncrhonization
options. For more information on exporting a settings file, see Specify Workspace Sync Settings.
|
| -F
|
The full path and file name for a report file (optional). The synchronization summary is written to the report file. If the
report file already exists, the summary is appended to the contents of the existing file.
|
Examples
- Connectivity.WorkspaceSync.exe -Ndmserver\Vault -WA -S"C:\Synchronization Settings\Settings.xml" -FC:\temp\SyncReport.csv
- Connectivity.WorkspaceSync.exe -Ndmserver\Vault -VUbkeaton -VPg3nEral27-S"C:\Synchronization Settings\Settings.xml" -FC:\temp\SyncReport.csv
NotePaths containing spaces must be inside of double quotes (for example, "C:\Synchronization Settings\Settings.xml").
Specify Synchronization Settings
The Settings dialog for the Workspace Synchronization wizard enables you to specify defaults for workspace synchronization.
The synchronization settings are saved per user, per vault.
The Update file in Workspace area lets you determine whether you want to update files to the latest version, current revision,
or current revision with released bias.
Update Options
- Latest version- If the local file is not the latest version, then the latest version is downloaded from the server and the local file is
overwritten. The latest version of the children is also downloaded.
- Current Revision-If the local version of the revision is not the latest version of that revision, then the latest version of the revision
is downloaded from the server and the local file is overwritten. The revision relationships are used to download the correct
revision of each child file.
If the local file does not match any versions of a revision on the server, then the newest revision of the file is downloaded.
- Current Revision with Released Bias-If the local version of the revision is not the latest version of that revision, then the latest released version of the
revision is downloaded from the server and the local file is overwritten. The revision relationships with Released Bias are
used to download the correct revision of each child file.
If the local file does not match any versions of a revision on the server, then the newest revision of the file is downloaded.
NoteIf a file has multiple parents within the data that is downloaded, and each parent specifies a different revision of the file,
the latest revision level is used.
The Auto-delete Filters list defines the file type filters for automatically deleting certain file types during synchronization.
Use these filters to remove extraneous files from your workspace that do not need to be managed by a vault, for example, log
files and backup files.
The Expiration Settings enable you to specify a time frame for determining unused files. Files that have not been used within
the time frame specified will be removed from the local workspace. You can specify expiration dates for files that are managed
by the vault and for files that are not managed by a vault. A file is considered "expired" if it has not been modified within
the time frame specified.
Specify Workspace Sync Settings
You can specify your Workspace Sync settings to suit your personal work environment.
- In the Workspace Synchronization wizard, click Settings.
Update file in Workspace
The Update file in Workspace area lets you determine whether you want to update files to the latest version, current revision,
or current revision with released bias.
- Select one of the following update options:
- Latest Version
- Current Revision
- If you select Current Revision, select the Released Bias check box to favor released revisions over non-released ones when
performing a synchronization.
Auto-delete Filters
You can specify which file types that are not managed by the vault are automatically deleted from the workspace. Any file
in the working folder matching the file extensions specified will be deleted during synchronization. Two filters are supplied
and turned off by default: Log Files (.log) and Acad Backup Files (.bak, ac$).
- Click Add to create a new delete filter.
- A new filter named New Delete Filter is added to the list and turned on by default.
- In the Filter Name field, enter a name for the filter.
- In the Extensions field, specify which file extensions are associated with the filter. Separate multiple extensions with commas.
- When activated, the file types specified by the filter will be deleted automatically during synchronization. Turn on the check
box next to a filter to activate the filter. Turn off the check box next to a filter to turn of the filter.
- To remove a filter from the list, select a filter and the click Remove.
NoteA file that would be deleted as a result of an auto-delete filter will not be deleted from a folder if the override is set
to Never.
Expiration Settings
You can set expiration criteria for both files managed by a vault and for files in the workspace that are not managed by a
vault.
- Turn on the Managed Files check box to apply expiration criteria to files in the local workspace that are managed by the vault.
- Specify a quantity and a duration to determine expired files. Select either days or weeks for the duration.
- Turn on the Unmanaged Files check box to apply expiration criteria to files in the local workspace that are not managed by
the vault. Select either days or weeks for the duration.
NoteIf the duration is set to 0, the expiration time frame is immediate.
Expiration Overrides
The expiration settings apply to all managed and unmanaged files in the local workspace. Expiration overrides can be set for
specific files and folders for more focused expiration criteria.
- Click Add Files to select specific files for which expiration overrides will be set. Click Add Folder to select a specific
folder for which expiration overrides will be set. The selected files and folders are displayed in the override list. Select
a file or folder from the overrides list and then click Remove to remove the entry from the list.
- For folders and individual files, you can specify a different duration and time frame from the global expiration settings.
Select Never from the Units drop-down menu to prevent the file or folder from ever expiring.
NoteA file that would be deleted as a result of an auto-delete filter will not be deleted from a folder if the override is set
to Never.
Remove Empty Folders
Export or Import Synchronization Settings
Synchronization settings can be exported to an .xml file as well as imported from an .xml file. The settings file can then
be imported by other users or specified when running workpsace synchronization from the command line.
- Click Export settings to save the current settings in an .xml file. In the Save As dialog, specify a file name and location
for the settings file and then click Save.
- Click Import settings to open a workspace synchronization settings .xml file. In the Open dialog, select the .xml file to
import and then click Open.
Go to Workspace (Add-ins)
Once the shared working folder is defined, you can access the working folder quickly by using the Go to Workspace command
in the Vault Add-in.
- On the Autodesk Vault ribbon, click the Access drop-down menu.
- Select Go to Workspace. The workspace folder opens in Windows Explorer.
