Thursday, 13 July 2017
  2 Replies
  2.5K Visits
0
Votes
Undo
  Subscribe
We are trying to figure out the best process for archiving our work. We want to create complete snapshots of projects at critical points in the evolution of a project, like permit submittals, as well as a complete picture at the end of our work on a project.

Our hope is to find something like e-transmit that gathers and copies all project information, including xrefs, sheet files, landfx data, and details into a neat package. We also hope that this package could be set up so that when you open one of the enclosed file, it will be drawing on information from the associated archived files rather than the live files associated with that project that may be ongoing.

We have looked at the different backup tools available, and haven't quite found what we're looking for yet. The LandFX e-transmit tool doesn't seem to capture all the files in our drawing set, and it doesn't allow us to select the drawing files to include. It also doesn't save copies of our details, so if we open files e-transmitted in this way, they will automatically update to reflect any modifications that have happened in our details since the project was archived. Backup to LandFX with backup details selected saves the .LFX and creates copies of details organized in a folder, but no xrefs or sheet files. If we combine this with AutoCAD's native e-transmit, which allows us to capture all the xref and sheet files in a drawing set, the detail sheets when opened will still update to the live versions of the details stored on the LandFX server.

A related question is how best to manage archiving, or cleaning out, the details folder (LandFX/\Details\P\ ).

What have other offices found to be the best way of archiving work?
Accepted Answer
0
Votes
Undo
Katherine,

Note that marking a DWG as Read-Only will "lock" it, stopping any automatic Land F/X processes that might otherwise update details and callouts.
So that ends up being the simplest method to archive a snapshot of submittal files.
Beyond that, the Backup button from the Projects screen includes an option to backup all Details along with the project data, which is a great technique to separately archive all of the details at that stage. This is best coupled with manually copying the drawing the set, and marking all files read-only.

--J
Accepted Answer
0
Votes
Undo
Katherine,

Note that marking a DWG as Read-Only will "lock" it, stopping any automatic Land F/X processes that might otherwise update details and callouts.
So that ends up being the simplest method to archive a snapshot of submittal files.
Beyond that, the Backup button from the Projects screen includes an option to backup all Details along with the project data, which is a great technique to separately archive all of the details at that stage. This is best coupled with manually copying the drawing the set, and marking all files read-only.

--J
6 years ago
·
#1296
0
Votes
Undo
Thanks, Jeremiah!

The read only method sounds like it would meet our need for a simple archiving method. It would get complicated if we need to re-submit a permit, meaning we would need to go back to an archived drawing, resuscitate it to make required changes, and keep any other changes that happened in the CD out of it. I guess in that case we would just need to disable the read-only setting, create another project detail folder in LandFX/\Details\P, move the backed up details into it, and redirect the project to look at that details folder. That process is a little involved, but it since it doesn't come up often, I think that's okay.

K
  • Page :
  • 1
There are no replies made for this post yet.