Support File Search Paths

[Tee.Dee]

I have custom search paths for symbol library, PLC database etc. which point to a location on our server.

If Autocad is started without me having a connection to the server, these paths are removed from the list under Suppport File Search Paths.

Please make the search paths stick whether the path is found or not.

[dougmcalexander]

I have already suggested this in another post, but I am going to Kudo yours too.  This is especially a problem for those who use a laptop in the office, connected to the network, then leave the office, only to return to find the network paths missing because, while you were away from your office the network paths weren't accessible and were removed from the Support File Search Path.  

You could set up a local profile and a travel profile and switch to travel before you leave the office.  I would like to see a toggle option on the menu that allows us to select which profile we want to use. Of course we would have to close and restart, so this button should also trigger a dialog that prompts us to save all drawings and allow a restart of AutoCAD Electrical.  

Furthermore, I would like to see the software follow the Support File Search Path religiously, in order, from top to bottom.  For example, if I copy the AeData folder and all of its subfolders to my network drive, and add it to the top of the Support File Sarch Path, so all of my designers are sharing the PLC data, Part Number Databases, and Projects, the software will still use the local AeData path, unless I temporarily rename it to something like AeData_Local.  Then it is forced to use the AeData folder path that I placed on the network and added to the top of the Support File Search Path.  So I must always remember to rename my local AeData back from AeData_Local to just plain AeData, when I leave the office to work off site.  But, if the Support File Search Path was followed exactly, in order, from top to bottom, I could have local paths listed after the network paths, and the software would use first available, just like it does with symbol library assignments.  If I am in the office, it uses the network paths, which are listed with higher priority than the local paths.  If I am off site, it cannot access the network paths, so it uses the next available, local, paths.

But in the interim, just try creating a second Profile, one pointing to local paths, and the other pointing to network paths, and be sure to switch profiles before you leave the network environment.