Autodesk Technology Managers Forum
Share your knowledge, ask questions, and engage with fellow CAD/BIM Managers.
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Network permissions to prevent file deletions

5 REPLIES 5
Reply
Message 1 of 6
rbroski
178 Views, 5 Replies

Network permissions to prevent file deletions

I'm having some trouble setting permissions on our "Projects" network server file folder. When I set the permissions to what I thinh should deny delete capability, AutoCAD attempts to save the drawing to a .tmp file instead of under the original file name. Allowing delete capability for our users permits AutoCAD to save properly, but the Project folder is wide open and any files can be deleted by any user.

Is there a way to set permissions on this folder to allow users in a particular group to do everything to this "projects" folder except delete any files? How does AutoCad interact with these permissions (does the program need the ability to delete files in its operation)? In a related topic, what permissions should I establish on any standard AutoCAD files (such as plot styles, plotter settings and especially my Symbol Manager customizations) that are on the server?

I am running AutoCAD 2004 LDD on Windows 2000 workstations with a Windows 2003 server. All thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
5 REPLIES 5
Message 2 of 6
Anonymous
in reply to: rbroski

On Tue, 4 Apr 2006 15:44:46 +0000, rbroski <> wrote:

>I'm having some trouble setting permissions on our "Projects" network server file folder. When I set the permissions to what I thinh should deny delete capability, AutoCAD attempts to save the drawing to a .tmp file instead of under the original file name. Allowing delete capability for our users permits AutoCAD to save properly, but the Project folder is wide open and any files can be deleted by any user.

You've hit the catch-22 that is the AutoCAD file save system. Although it's
probably the same for most if not all applications.

When you are working on a file, it's all in RAM; the old version is on the disk.
When you save, I believe AutoCAD performs the following three tasks:

1. Delete the current BAK file
2. Rename the DWG to BAK
3. Save current drawing state to DWG file

By removing the Delete right from the folder, Save operations get hung up on
step 1.

Unfortunately, rights are assigned to users, not applications. If that were so,
you could assign AutoCAD the Delete right but take it away from the users
themselves, so AutoCAD would work fine but idiot users would not.

But the File System always sees Users acting on files, not the applications.

>In a related topic, what permissions should I establish on any standard AutoCAD files (such as plot styles, plotter settings and especially my Symbol Manager customizations) that are on the server?

Create a "CAD Admin" security group, add yourself + others to it, and assign it
Full Control over the related folders on the server. I also create a "CAD Users"
group and assign CAD Users to it. I then assign the group Read Only access to
those folders.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 3 of 6
Anonymous
in reply to: rbroski

Careful what you wish for.
We are constantly imploring end users to clean up the project directory's to just the files that are a part of the project.
If they can't delete Nicetry.dwg, or thisistempcrap.dwg, or wtf.dwg Who is going to?

John Postlewait
IS Department
George Butler Associates, Inc.
Message 4 of 6
Anonymous
in reply to: rbroski

On Tue, 4 Apr 2006 17:09:42 +0000, jpostlewait <> wrote:

>Careful what you wish for.
>We are constantly imploring end users to clean up the project directory's to just the files that are a part of the project.
>If they can't delete Nicetry.dwg, or thisistempcrap.dwg, or wtf.dwg Who is going to?

Along those lines, we've implemented as simple naming protocol for our drawings.

Our important "Working" drawings which are Xrefs used in design and
documentation are named with an "X_" prefix. Because all of our "good" files are
used as Xrefs in Sheet files, this makes sense. Sheet files get their own naming
system (project number + sheet number + description), and are pretty self
explanatory, so we don't have to worry about cleaning those up.

Any file that is temporary is named with a "Z_" prefix. For example, if you need
to export (wblock) out a portion of one drawing to use in another, name it
Z_ z_matt.dwg). In fact I have two commands, EXP and IM, which look for this file
automatically for these kinds of Wblock in Insert operations.

The X_ and Z_ prefix have the effect of easily identifying what is a "good"
important drawing from one that is not. A project may create hundreds of Z_
temporary drawings for all sorts of reasons; as long as the user knows they are
temporary, there is not a problem.

Then, every so often, I do a simple search for all Z_*.* files that are over two
months old, and delete them. I also delete all Z files when a project is
archived.

Simple, but it works extremely well.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 5 of 6
Anonymous
in reply to: rbroski

Ah you must live in a dictatorship. They tend to be brief and to the point.
Our file naming standards were decided upon by a committee reaching consensus. I started to count the pages, but quickly grew bored. Sorry Matt but not even for you would I go back and count that stuff.
Still busy fighting a holding action against the coming Revit avalanche.

John Postlewait
IS Department
George Butler Associates, Inc.
Message 6 of 6
Anonymous
in reply to: rbroski

On Tue, 4 Apr 2006 22:13:59 +0000, jpostlewait <> wrote:

>Ah you must live in a dictatorship. They tend to be brief and to the point.

Yep, and it's mine 🙂

>Our file naming standards were decided upon by a committee reaching consensus.

That's why I always say, if you want something done, don't give it to a
committee. I "imposed" the file naming system on the company when I became the
CM. It happened fast and was accepted quickly.

Other things that were given to a committee - in the name of "giving people a
voice" - never materialized.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com

Can't find what you're looking for? Ask the community or share your knowledge.

Post to forums  

Administrator Productivity


Autodesk Design & Make Report