topic Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote? in AutoCAD Forum

When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

JamesMaeding — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 15:41:47 GMT

I know this happens with the File pulldown, and likely with the Big A and other ways of selecting previous files to to open. If you have files on the list that are on drives not mapped, or remote if working through VPN, you get a three or four second delay, at least, to see the menu or list.

Why?

This is nuts. The MRU lists are so handy yet they strangle themselves, surely looking to see if they exist and their properties. I don't care though. Tell me the file is not available when I select it.

The workaround is to set MRU to 0 in options.

Autodesk needs to talk to people that work remote a bit more, its not slow VPN's causing the issue.

They were all into the cloud a few years back, yet we hit issues like this. Fix it, do it.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

RobDraw — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:12:17 GMT

There are better forums for feature and product enhancement requests.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

JamesMaeding — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:32:24 GMT

@RobDraw

Like what? The idea page is marginally useful. Too few people go there, only the ones with their own idea and happen to notice others.

Then we have the support request method. Lucky if they understand my issue. Its not the place.

On a deal like this, I need people to jump on board and support my claim, or shoot it down and this is the place for best exposure. So please be specific Mr. Robdraw or your replies are bordering on trolls.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

RobDraw — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:41:55 GMT

Really? An Autodesk basher calling someone out for being a troll?

I'm surprised that you don't already participate in AUGI's wish list, the only official Autodesk wish list.

So, take your bandwagon drive over there and see how much support you get and use this forum for what it is meant for. I see these posts drumming up support for "fixes" as spam in these forums.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

JamesMaeding — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:47:55 GMT

@RobDraw

whatever.

Please explain what you have found to be most effective for fixing stuff like this.

Obviously I am not a fan of the idea board, for real change. Its a great place for inspiring my own tools, but adesk seems to ignore them in the end, or worse, twist them to something easier to implement.

You should see the civil3d ideas that got "implemented". They weren't.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:53:52 GMT

Maybe a useless reply, since I agree with @RobDraw that Product ideas/wishes/gripes in this forum (with the exception of verifiable/reproduceable bug reports) seldom if ever generate results as far as product changes go. That being said, hopefully your listed workaround of setting MRU's to 0 in options will solve the frustrating freeze-up in AutoCAD every time I launch the program from outside the office. If it does, I am more than willing to sacrifice a few seconds to navigate a "file open" dialog box and then do what I need to rather than find something else to do for a few minutes while ACAD tries to resolve paths that don't exist outside the office network, unless I VPN in. It will still freeze for a few seconds when VPN is connected, not near as bad, but if I don't need the VPN for a specific purpose, I don't use it. Even the best hacker in the world can't hijack a VPN tunnel that doesn't exist....

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

rkmcswain — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:54:13 GMT

Hey @JamesMaeding - what is your proposed solution?

I totally agree that the registry gets polluted with bad MRU links, but how would an application know that a "S" drive (which is available today), will not be available tomorrow or next week, or next month?

AutoCAD (or whatever Windows app) doesn't do the searching, it makes a call to Windows to say "Hey go find this file", and Windows injects the delay as it searches (instead of, in a couple of milliseconds, realizing that "S" doesn't exist).

One more note, Augi is an independent entity now (no longer affiliated with or sponsored by Autodesk), so I'm not sure of how "official" the wish list is anymore.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

RobDraw — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:57:33 GMT

Are you here for solutions or for a "fix" from Autodesk? Because your demands for a fix make it sound like you don't think it can be solved by anyone but Autodesk. It's very annoying for you to discount the people who are here to help.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

RobDraw — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:59:18 GMT

@rkmcswain wrote:
One more note, Augi is an independent entity now (no longer affiliated with or sponsored by Autodesk), so I'm not sure of how "official" the wish list is anymore.

Yet another sign that AutoCAD is fading away?

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

Kent1Cooper — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:05:19 GMT

@RobDraw wrote:
There are better forums for feature and product enhancement requests.

@JamesMaeding wrote:
Like what? ....

Like the >Product Feedback< page [not a forum per se, like these Forums, but still...].

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

JamesMaeding — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:15:13 GMT

@Kent1Cooper

Right, I have them all bookmarked and actually the feedback one is the best for certain things like forum site issues.

This VPN or missing file slowdown issue is something I would expect regular users to encounter.

I bet many that only work remote have no idea its going on.

Many many more users come here than the feedback page.

As for comment by @RobDraw , its not that I say they can't fix it, they surely can. I understand there are compromises to not getting latest file attribs, like not having thumbnail image to offer.

I'm just thinking this is something that must affect 50% of users or more now that working remote is a big thing.

I have to think Adesk is interested in this but needs ammunition to gather the resources to fix.

Do you guys run into the issue? Do you work remote or commonly deal with files from sources that may be disconnected?

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

rkmcswain — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:16:22 GMT

@Kent1Cooper wrote:

Like the >Product Feedback< page [not a forum per se, like these Forums, but still...].

On a related note, there is no "AutoCAD" Ideastation here, and it's quite clear that is not by accident. The actual reason? Who knows. They don't want ideas? They don't need ideas? It would become a giant %$&#fest online?

I have another thought on the matter, but I'm afraid I'm not able to discuss it due to NDA.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

pendean — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:21:41 GMT

>>>...It would become a giant %$&#fest online...<<<
Most likely.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

JamesMaeding — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:25:46 GMT

@Anonymous

That freeze up from outside the office is interesting.

Do you have support paths pointing to the server?

The first thing I did when we went remote was to eliminate any profile related path pointing to a server.

That was easy as I already keep all tools local, but had a spot on network where users had custom stuff.

I now have that copy local via login script and point to that.

I get fast startup times now but could be other things too.

You using flexlm for license? or standalones, or rental where sign-in provides the seat?

thx

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

JamesMaeding — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:30:58 GMT

@rkmcswain

You are correct that it's not possible to have the computer "detect" a file is not available, without looking for it.

That would be magic 🙂

I'd be looking for a toggle that would let me turn off the file info gathering.

I don't think any other approach would work.

I can't even imagine what civil3d people do on this. They describe huge delays that program relies on the connections so can't just disable it.

thx

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:05:43 GMT

Standalone license (perpetual, and no, I have no plans to "trade-up" to subscription)

All support files, printer drivers, template(s), sheet sets, etc. are on my local HD

I thought it was because I had a quick-access link on my file-open-dialog to an office network drive mount, so I removed that, but no change. Next idea was thinking that since I have named page setups in my template that use office plotter/printers, have ACAD launch without opening drawing1.dwg, no start page, etc, just blank application window, still freezes when hitting either the file/open button, or going to the "big red A" dropdown to select a file. Tried simply double-clicking a file to launch ACAD and open the desired file in the same step, still freezes and thinks for a few minutes before letting me proceed with anything. If I launch my VPN and connect to any destination on my mapped network drives using Windows file explorer, not even open a file, simply get to a folder anywhere below the mount point, before launching ACAD then the lag is only a few seconds, maybe a minute tops, rather than (variable, 2~5) quantity of minutes. But as I stated earlier, I don't like to leave the VPN open beyond doing whatever is necessary. Aside from the (admittedly minuscule) possibility of a random bad-guy intercepting and breaking VPN traffic, we are a small company, and our gateway is an entry level model, limited CPU/RAM resources, etc, so I don't want to clog things up with unnecessary remote traffic. I will report back on whether or not zeroing-out the MRU options has any effect.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:11:08 GMT

PS- no lags at all in-office, so it has to be a failing behind-the-scenes search for something(?)...I haven't tried disconnecting and removing all references to network mount(s), as even if that fixes the lag when remote, it would slow down other in-office tasks to the point where it wouldn't be an acceptable trade-off.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

JamesMaeding — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:17:28 GMT

@Anonymous

Boy, this delay topic hits so many things.

I use the VLIDE a lot and never access anything from the network with it.

It opens slow too.

I run a standalone seat (ADN).

I know there are tools to watch network access, but narrowing down to this has not worked for me.

I must not be doing the right thing, and I bet if I could detect what is being looked for, we could easily work around it.

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:33:07 GMT

As ACAD works fine after the initial lag, I haven't bothered to dig line-by-line in-depth into Windows log files (or logs on the gateway, almost certainly no sunshine to be had there anyway) I just use that lag-time to drink some coffee, light a cigarette, visit the WC, whatever. Along the lines of starting an older car & waiting for it to warm up a bit and smooth out before going anywhere. I will still report back tomorrow if the change in MRU options has any effect (good or bad....)

Re: When will adesk stop the "recent file" list from slowing down when remote?

pendean — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 19:48:49 GMT

>>>...Standalone license (perpetual, and no, I have no plans to "trade-up" to subscription)...<<<
Side note @Anonymous
Here is an active dedicated forum where that went away for those users, so have a backup plan ready to jump on anytime on demand and quickly, "perpetual" apparently has an end date and it is coming to everyone at some point sooner or later https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/previous-version-support/bd-p/6051

Don't get caught with your pants down like they did.