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Issue when opening Inventor DWGs

12 REPLIES 12
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Message 1 of 13
ben.gafner
795 Views, 12 Replies

Issue when opening Inventor DWGs

Whenever I open an inventor dwg it automatically opens the file in AutoCAD.

This happens when I open from vault or direct from my C:/ drive. When opening from vault I still have the option to check the file out but when the file opens it does so in AutoCAD and is either read only or writable depending on if it was checked out or not.

 

This has only recently happened so I’m assuming I may have changed a setting somewhere but I’m unaware of making any changes so I’m not sure what the problem is.

I can obviously open them in inventor by locating the file in inventor or dragging the file on the blank program but this is not convenient and I shouldn't’t have to do this anyway.

 

Hope someone has a quick solution for this. Cheers!

 

Oh and I'm running Inventor, Vault and AutoCAD all 2012

12 REPLIES 12
Message 2 of 13
Cadmanto
in reply to: ben.gafner

Ben,

Welcome to the forum.

I have had the same issue recently as well.  I am using 2012 also.  I have done a little research and haven't come up with anything to this point.  What I can tell you is my drawing templates are dwg, but up to this point it has not been an issue.  Even in my vault the icons for what are Inventor dwg files show up with Autocad icons.  What I have done in the interum is when the dwg is open in Inventor, I have done a save as .dw and that has been working fine.  Mainly because that is a true Inventor drawing file.

 

check.PNGIf this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudoskudos.PNG are appreciated. Thanks!!!! Smiley Very Happy

 

New EE Logo.PNG

Inventor.PNG     vault.PNG

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 3 of 13
ben.gafner
in reply to: Cadmanto

Thanks for the response!

 

I doing a save as and changing the file time isnt really practicle as I dont have permissions to delete on vault and making multipul files might cause issues and becasue its a large company that I work for we have set standards that we have to meet and the drawing file time is one of them becasue we have company standards checks implimented befor drawings are issued to meet the clients specs.

I've never had the issue before, the file type is the same as it was a week ago, the icon is the same and its in the same location but for some reason it now defaults to opening in AutoCAD.

 

Ive just checked and it doesn't do this when opening the older .idw files that we use to use but i cant revert back to that file type becasue of the company standards.

Message 4 of 13
Cadmanto
in reply to: ben.gafner

I understand.  I am an administrator to my vault, but I get your dilemma.

One thing to understand is the .dwg is standard Autocad format and the .idw is the standard Inventor format.

Even though Inventor can create dwg files for use in Autocad, in theory it makes sense why the system defaults to want to open in Autocad.  What has me myphed like you is why all of a sudden is this happening.  Smiley Frustrated

The million dollar question!!!

 

check.PNGIf this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudoskudos.PNG are appreciated. Thanks!!!! Smiley Very Happy

 

New EE Logo.PNG

Inventor.PNG     vault.PNG

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 5 of 13
ben.gafner
in reply to: Cadmanto

Well I'm assuming I have done something to change a setting but I have no idea what. One day it was fine, the next it wasn't. Thanks for your help, hopefully someone will be able to shed some light on the situation. Until then it looks like I'm opening through Inventor!

Thanks for your help. Smiley Happy

Message 6 of 13
Cadmanto
in reply to: ben.gafner

Ben,

One thing that might work for you and I just tried it and it did work, is in Windows Explorer, tag all of the files and go to properties.  Then when the dialog window comes up, change the default program that it opens under from Autocad to Inventor.  I realize that this might be a little bit of work, but now that I think about it, the only thing that comes to mind is we get windows updates all the time and maybe one of these updates came through and messed this all up.

Just a thought.

 

check.PNGIf this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudoskudos.PNG are appreciated. Thanks!!!! Smiley Very Happy

 

New EE Logo.PNG

Inventor.PNG     vault.PNG

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 7 of 13
ben.gafner
in reply to: Cadmanto

I just gave that a go and when I set the default program to Inventor it does work. When I open the file it opens in Inventor. The problem now is that it opens the inventor program regardless to whether there is one already open or not 😕 and because the file extension is the same as normal .dwgs it has changed them automatically to open with inventor.

It seems as though in its default state inventor it can tell the difference between Inventor dwgs and AutoCAD dwgs but know it just seems to see the file extension and opens it with that file.

Do you know of a way to reset the the default back to its original default launch setting? I can have my profile reset but that means losing all of my personal setting on all my programs which may have to be done if there is no better solution. That will work out better in the long run I think.

Message 8 of 13
Cadmanto
in reply to: ben.gafner

Yeah, that's a problem.  Isn't that just like life.  You solve one issue and it creates another.  Smiley Frustrated

 

As far as changing it back to the default, just do what you did before and change it back to Autocad.  Or are you talking about something else.

 

check.PNGIf this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudoskudos.PNG are appreciated. Thanks!!!! Smiley Very Happy

 

New EE Logo.PNG

Inventor.PNG     vault.PNG

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 9 of 13
ben.gafner
in reply to: Cadmanto

Unfortunately your right!

 

I changed it back to AutoCAD default as soon as I realized.

I mean more along the lines of resetting the program back to its original install? Because something I must have done will have changed the way it read files and opens them accordingly because before it could tell the difference. So there must be a way to put it back to that state, maybe reinstalling the program or running a fix on it? I will have to talk to our IT department

Message 10 of 13
ben.gafner
in reply to: Cadmanto

Finally got this issue sorted! It is based on the program that you have the files default open with!

 

When you hover over a file type it gives you that small yellow info box that in most instances is annoying and you want it gone; but that info box holds the information in which program the file was created in. you are not suppose to set default launchers to either inventor or autocad when creating .dwg files on both that arent cross compatable. Autodesk have recognised that setting a default launch program will just read the file extention and nothing else. Autodesk provide AutoCAD DWG Launcher which solvs this problem. If you now set the default launch program to this it will read the .dwg file and see which program its information is based on!

 

Now that i have found this out it seems stupidly obvious!

 

Hope this has helped someone else with the same problem!

Message 11 of 13
Cadmanto
in reply to: ben.gafner

Nice find Ben.

I have since tried this and everything is back to normal.

Does bring up one other point that might want to be explored.  Why are drawing templates allowed to be created in .dwg format?  Seems to me like this is leading to confusion such like you and I and I assume others have experienced.

 

check.PNGIf this solved your issue please mark this posting "Accept as Solution".

Or if you like something that was said and it was helpful, Kudoskudos.PNG are appreciated. Thanks!!!! Smiley Very Happy

 

New EE Logo.PNG

Inventor.PNG     vault.PNG

Best Regards,
Scott McFadden
(Colossians 3:23-25)


Message 12 of 13
jmackniak
in reply to: Cadmanto

i have been using Inventor for 2 years as an instructor.  Inventor always opened my .dwg files until today.  now it is defaulting to AutoCAD when opening DWG files.

Message 13 of 13
johnsonshiue
in reply to: jmackniak

Hi! I guess there was a system-level change in your environment leading to AutoCAD opening DWG by default. You can change it back by going to File Explorer -> right-click on any DWG file -> Open With -> Choose Default Program.

Many thanks!

 



Johnson Shiue (johnson.shiue@autodesk.com)
Software Test Engineer

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