Can Project Paths 'See' Child Folders?

[GPSJane]

Or in other words; can I set one directory and force ACAD to look in all sub directories of that path or do I really have to sit and add every directory? I thought this was fantastic at one point but now that I have so many directories I am not so sure.

[jggerth1]

Are you using vanilla Acad, or a vertical?

And look for what exactly?  support files/LSP? ctb or stb? pc3?

[GPSJane]

At this point only images, but surely no matter what type of file the answer is the same?

[jggerth1]

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@GPSJane wrote:

At this point only images, but surely no matter what type of file the answer is the same?

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Ahhhh, no.  LSP, fonts, cui, and other support file locations are set in Options on the Files Tab, along with separate locations for Help, plotters, etc.

Back to the other question, are you running a vertical? Architecture, MEP, etc.?  Basically where and how are you setting 'project paths'?

Vanilla AutoCAD has a PROJECTNAME  system variable, but nothing else that I've heard described as 'project paths'.

[Bob_Zurunkle]

OP the closest thing I can think of is relative paths. I have a template folder with a parent drawing, a child and a grandchild. All 3 are in the same subfolder, and I went into XREF manager in the parent file, right-clicked on the child XREF and chose to set path as relative. This tells the parent to look in the same folder for the child (or children). I did the same for the child, setting its XREF manager to look in the same folder for  the grandchild. Makes sense? It works beautifully for us, without having to relink anything.

[GPSJane]

Yeah I am actually using relative paths now as a stop gap measure but the point was to be able to set any folder on a computer to contain all the folders with images and other xrefs and now I have to set up each individual folder name.

By the way, the 'child' is a folder inside a another, a sub-directory. I don't have nested xrefs so far.

I really can't use the same directory as the files as that would create a mess (hundreds of images). Anyway, I think the answer is no, I can't set up child directories.

[jggerth1]

generally, for most of us, we do work on a project basis, and want everything asscociated with a project to be in the same folder hierarchy under some project identifier.

that model works pretty well with relative paths, and simplifies grabbing an entire jaob and sending ot out, backing it up, or archiving it off-line.

[jggerth1]

generally, for most of us, we do work on a project basis, and want everything asscociated with a project to be in the same folder hierarchy under some project identifier.

that model works pretty well with relative paths, and simplifies grabbing an entire job and sending it out, backing it up, or archiving it off-line.

[GPSJane]

Yeah I know what you mean. My 'projects' are actually different shafts in a mine complex so our images are all stored together, our drawings all together, reports all together etc.

I have them divided by shaft under those directories and relative paths do see them fine but then I have to set up all the correct directories on another computer if I want someone to be able to see them correctly.

Anyway, I will use relative paths on everything I save from now on but I also have to set up every image directory in project paths for those that don't use relative paths yet. It's a lot easier than going to find each image though!