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Change file extension in vault

Change file extension in vault

For as long as I have been in this business, and with regard to many data management products, I have not seen a way to change the file extention on a file.  It would be great to be able to change a file extension in vault, so that the historical files show the previous file name and the new name.  Some useful examples: 1) I have scanned drawings that are saved as PDFs.  I need to modify one, so I would like to change the name of the file to a DWG and then replace the content with an AutoCAD drawing, 2) I have older Microsoft Office files (DOC, XLS) that I want to update and resave as DOCX and XLSX to take advantage of the imrproved features in the applications.

 

Thank you for your consideration,

Mark

18 Comments
john.laidler
Advisor

1.  How about checking in the DWG that was created from the scanned PDF, then 'LINK' the PDF with the comment 'LEGACY".

 

2.  Check in the DOCx file, then LINK the old DOC to it with the comment 'LEGACY'.  Move the original DOC into an 'archive' folder, so the history remains.

 

 

mark.cloyed
Collaborator

That is what we do now.  The trouble can be that a search will result in both files, which requires that the user to pay attention so that they do not select the legacy (obsolete) file.  It would be preferable to only see the old file as a historical version.  It also causes more clutter in the folder, or requires that we move the obsolete file to another folder.

Thanks for the input,

Mark

john.laidler
Advisor

Create a workflow state that only the Vault admin can see document.

That way the history remains, but only the new file will display in the searching.

 

mark.cloyed
Collaborator

That is an interesting idea.  Not to be negative, but then the user cannot see the history of a file.  Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Mark

john.laidler
Advisor

Agreed.  But the user didn't want both documents to appear in the search results.

The best practice, is to keep the document set to 'obsolete' and link it to the new updated file extension document.

 

 

tmoney2007
Collaborator

Create a lifecycle state for these files that indicates that they have been superceded. We use "Reference" as a file category and then "Obsolete" as the lifecycle state. This way you can make it so that the user can see the file, but cannot check it out (moving something out of obsolete requires elevated privileges). 

melanie.mason
Community Visitor

Mark ... We were just talking about this very thing !!

 

Is this something Autodesk has even considered yet? Excel is my biggest grip when updating versions - i cant afford to lose the history and font want to moving things around - i need the history to remain. I am also with you on the PDF /DWG thing.

mark.cloyed
Collaborator

This issue came up in conversation again with another client.  It was primarily focused around MS Office files, changing DOC to DOCX, XLS to XLSX, etc.  While the current behavior of not allowing extensions to change has been the norm for all other data management products I have used, it is still highly desired to be able to replace one file format with another (replace a PDF with a DWG, and those mentioned above as examples).  

 

Thanks,
Mark

mark.cloyed
Collaborator

I would like to resubmit this enhancement request to make the vault support changes in file extensions.  I have two examples that I can offer:

1) I place a Word document in the vault with the extension of .DOC.  At a later point, I want to update that document and check it back in as a .DOCX file.  A similar issue exists with Excel spreadsheets.

2) I have a scanned in drawing that was saved as a .TIFF and placed into the vault.  I have a need to modify this 'drawing' and want to redraw it in AutoCAD, save it as a .DWG, and place it into vault as the latest version to the historical .TIFF.  

 

This would provide some much-needed functionality.

Thanks,
Mark

Tags (1)
ihayesjr
Community Manager
Status changed to: Archived

Thanks for sharing your Idea. We use this forum to guide product development and help users in the best way we can base on voting. We occasionally merge Ideas or archive old ones to keep the forum working properly- it ensures there is room for people to review new Ideas and that the most relevant and meaningful ones can gain votes. We are archiving this Idea because it has been on the board for well over a year and hasn't received many votes from the community. If you want to raise it again and try to gain more support, you are welcome to do so. We have found that pictures and mock-ups can help get concepts across and win more votes from other users. If you have questions or see a connection between this Idea and others, let us know. - Vault product team

AndriesMuylaert
Enthusiast

Currently there is no way to rename a file extension in Vault while maintaining ALL the behaviours: system and user defined properties, lifecycles, revisions, history in general. Some programs like Office change file extension to support new functionality: DOC>DOCX, XLS>XLSX, DWF>DWFX, ....

The only way to rename a file extension in Vault is to add the new file manually and copy manually the behaviours: properties, set revisions and lifecycles states, this is time consuming and you loose track of the history (unless you keep the old file).

3 possible solutions (best-good-acceptable):

-'Rename file extension' command on the source file as you do in windows, the history needs to allow different file name extensions.

-'Rename file extension' command where the result is a copied new file with the latest behaviour as the source file (properties, lifecycle, revision); optional a link (attachment) to the source file for tracking the history. 

-Allow to change the file extension in 'Copy Design'.

AndriesMuylaert
Enthusiast

 

I would like to add something:

I know that just renaming the file extension can lead to corrupt files, you need to do an additional checkout to replace the file content. For this customer it's important to keep track of the history regardless the file extension, users can freely move from DOC to DOCX when needed. As an alternative 'copy +paste behaviours' (category, properties, lifecycle, revision) from 1 file to another would also be acceptable.

 

ihayesjr
Community Manager
Status changed to: Gathering Support
 
Bram_Baars
Enthusiast

We have the same use cases as mentioned above: tiff files that are redrawn in dwg, xls files saved as xlsx.

We just migrated from Productstream Professional, where this was just a database transaction, and our supplier delivered an add-in for it: NEW DOCUMENT AS NEW REVISION.

I understand Vault works differently on file level, but we really miss that specific function.

jehd
Advocate

My users are upset (though mildly) that some files have the extension DWG while others have dwg. Changing the case would not make the file corrupt, and ought to be possible!

Kevin_Gallagher
Advocate

since there is no recycle/undelete in vault. it would be nice to be able to remove the .del from the deleted files putting them back to where they can actually be seen and used.

ABPnti
Explorer

also needed then you want to replace a other system with Vault.

f.ex change a word document from doc to docx or you have a drawing that change to a dgn and after some years i become a dwg again.

 

 

Kevin_Petursson
Participant

This is a feature we utilized greatly in Meridian, and now we're working on a transition to Vault and are frustrated it cannot do this seemingly simple task.  It appears the primary key for a record is the file name.  I a database the size and scope of Vault, I would have expected the primary key for and entry to be generated by the system to avoid the risk of duplication and user error.

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