Archiving with Sheet Set Fields in Titleblocks and Mtext Question

[joe.balaneski]

I was hoping someone could verify this for me.

We use SSM on every project.  Mostly to populate the titleblock information and using it in notes on the drawings to reference other drawings.

I have a script created for our department to use when archiving drawings.  It works like eTransmit, but is literally a one click deal for individual drawings rather than batch archiving.  Unfortunately not being able to disconnect from our company network, I can't verify the following:

Do the SSM fields within the text and titleblocks actually stay as originally set or do they end up being ##### in every instance without being connected to the network/SSM file?

A lot of clients don't require DWG files anymore, but some still do.  And nothing would be more embarrassing than to send a client a drawing with a bunch of #### all over the place.

If they do, great!!!  If not, I'm going to implement a command into the script to remove the fields from the titleblocks and text during archiving.  

Thanks for any help!

[leothebuilder · Accepted solution]

I don't know what your script does when archiving, but fields should remain fields unless the field references something that is not included with the archive. When something is missing the field will display the dreaded ###.

Sheet Set Manager has a archive option as well. Right click the project name at the top of the sheet list and select "Archive".

[joe.balaneski]

Thanks Leo!  That's what I thought.  You pretty much gave me the answer I wanted.

My current script does the following:

From Paperspace, switches to Model Space.  converts all the C3D entities to CAD entities (i.e. lines and text), manually purges all unused entities, switches back to Paper Space and then runs EXPORTTOAUTOCAD to bind all the XREFs, then closes the drawing without saving it (to prevent the original file from being modified).

As I said, it's a one stop button to archive a single or few drawings instead of having to go thru all the etransmit/built-in archive setup stuff.  I've never been a fan of the etransmit function.  I'm a little old school with opening every drawing and archiving "manually".  I've had issues in the past where things didn't archive correctly and I ended up having to go back and do it again.