topic Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as in Inventor Forum

option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or assy

smokes2998 — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 12:33:50 GMT

Is there an option to save the idw to the same directory as the part or assembly?

I can't find it

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

mcgyvr — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 12:35:01 GMT

No..

Inventor remembers "last used" folders and will default to that..

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

smokes2998 — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 13:48:59 GMT

Does anyone know why they did that? (I am assuming in this case the programmers are useless)

It is really annoying when you have have hundreds of Sub folders in the Project folder.

The competitor CAD system automatically save the drawing to the same folder as the part or assembly.

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

mcgyvr — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:08:08 GMT

@smokes2998 wrote:

Does anyone know why they did that? (I am assuming in this case the programmers are useless)

It is really annoying when you have have hundreds of Sub folders in the Project folder.

The competitor CAD system automatically save the drawing to the same folder as the part or assembly.

For every "case" it doesn't make sense there are just as many more that it does..

Its got to pick something... So that was the decision made to remember the last location..

Not everyone has the same file structure/process as you..

Maybe one company saves all our drawings in the "drawings" folder and not at the same level as the part..

MANY other programs work the same way Inventor does.. Some do not...

You are always welcome to post your thoughts to the ideastation so others can "vote" on how beneficial that would be to them and they "may" change it..

But as it is now.. It functions the way it functions..

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

smokes2998 — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:28:43 GMT

None of competitor Cad systems work this way and you wouldn't want to when you use the vault .with the vault you tend to have one master project file and lots of sub directory's specific to products and parts.

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

Curtis_W — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:11:09 GMT

Hi smokes2998,

When someone says something as obviously inflammatory as 'they assume others are useless', experience has taught me not to bother responding to their questions, as it generally doesn't turn out well, but here goes anyway....

So just a tip:

When I work with a file system that requires a lot of browsing, what I like to do is copy the folder address from Windows Explorer (I almost always have the folder open anyway):

And then paste it into the "Browse For" dialog as shown:

This saves a great deal of time surfing the folder structure.

Also you can use Vault to go directly to the folder you want:

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

Curtis_W — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 14:58:00 GMT

@smokes2998 wrote:
None of competitor Cad systems work this way and you wouldn't want to when you use the vault .with the vault you tend to have one master project file and lots of sub directory's specific to products and parts.

HI smokes2998,

The best Vaulted set ups that I've worked with were very flat, and had almost no sub directories. Sub directories aren't actually needed in Vault since it organizes based on a database of properties, meaning that a well set up Vault uses the properties to locate and organize files rather than folders. Users just feel comfortable with folders and subdirectories, and get kind of panicked when they think of dumping all of their files into one big folder.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

smokes2998 — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 15:22:02 GMT

Curtis

After three years of using this software, I do all that but I shouldn't have to, it is annoying me that I have to do this many steps to manage files.

Especially when I forget that I am saving a new drawing file and last folder I opened was a complete different directory to folder the drawing needs to be saved to.

With regards to flats structures the do work great but a lot of company have some file structures that benefit more from folds and sub directories.

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

Curtis_W — Thu, 29 Sep 2016 16:04:07 GMT

Hi smokes2998,

Here's a quick iLogic rule to save the drawing file in the same folder, and the same name as the first model reference found in the drawing.

I would make this an external iLogic rule so that it is available as a one button solution for all of your drawing files.

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

'get model doc and path
Try
	'find the first model ref in the drawing
	oDoc = ThisDrawing.ModelDocument
	oPath = oDoc.FullFileName
	oName = Left(oPath, Len(oPath)-4) & ".idw"
Catch
	MessageBox.Show("Could not get model reference.", "iLogic")
	Return
End Try 

'save file
Try
	ThisDoc.Document.SaveAs(oName , False)
Catch
	MessageBox.Show("Drawing could not be saved for some reason.", "iLogic")
End Try

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

smokes2998 — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 07:10:42 GMT

Cheers will it work for .ipn files as well?

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

sohFBX79 — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 10:20:01 GMT

Hi Curtis

Is it possible to make a button to run this scribt? I'm new to Ilogic

Best regards Søren

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

Curtis_W — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 15:57:53 GMT

Hi @sohFBX79 ,

If you are using Inventor 2023 then the ability to create a ribbon button from an external iLogic rule is built in. Before that the best option is to use this button constructor app:

http://hjalte.nl/inventor-addins/31-button-constructor

I hope this helps.
Best of luck to you in all of your Inventor pursuits,
Curtis
http://inventortrenches.blogspot.com

Re: option to automatically save the idw to the same directory as the part or as

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 15:10:47 GMT

@Curtis_W said: "a well set up Vault uses the properties to locate and organize files rather than folders."

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!

Just wish I could convince users of such. But like you said as well, they love their folders.

Some like them 9 and 10 deep, with descriptive names in a challenge to the MS 260 character limit. I'm dealing with just that as we speak...that and duplicated file names....oh the joy.