I just ran in to a major headache and I need some help. We've recently implemented a new workflow, lifecycle, categories etc. Part of that involved creating a group of read-only users who are limited to released files. Everything works fine EXCEPT they can't see any previews. After some serious head scratching I've figured out it's because the DWFs aren't released. Currently they are in the 'base' category. I've created a rule for assigning new DWFs to their own category with a lifecycle which defaults to released but I can't change category on the 3500 existing DWFs.
PLEASE tell me I have a better option than deleting all those perfectly valid DWFs and regenerating them so that they get assigned to the right category.
As a test, I tried assigning a lifecycle to the Base categoty, but I get the same 'no changes detected' error. The tic box is greyed out.
I need a cheat to get around the Vault restriction on hidden files so that I don't have to hammer my job processor and play the role of babysitter recreating 3500 DWFs. Or alternatively - is there something I can do to give my "released files only" group access to view the unreleased DWFs?
Can anybody help me out?
Thanks!
John
You can put your DWF's into categories by using Assignment Rules upon CREATION of the DWF. You cannot manually assign a category to DWFs that already exist.
RULE:
Property: File Extension
Condition: is
Value: DWF
On another note, you should NOT have to Release DWF's in order to Release a design. The only reason I can see why you would want to categorize your DWF's is security. You may not want certain users seeing specific files and if you turn on Hidden Files you can still see the DWF's even though they can't see the actual CAD file unless you are using Folder Level Permissions then they obviously would be able to see what they were set to Read.
In a case where the "Restricted" files exist all over the Vault and not in one specific folder - folder level permissions will not suffice.
Hi John,
Did you even find a way to change dwf Categories on existing files?
Thanks for any help you can give.