Best Practice for Block organizing & insertion for team of 5

[MRF80]

Hi all.

Help please!

I’ve spent the last few months working/setting up Autocad for our company drawing office of 5 people. We’re all new to Autocad, having previously used an older CAD package for many years. We build pre-fabricated timber frame bungalows and a lot of the CAD work is using, inserting and positions Blocks. Blocks representing items such as furniture, kitchen units, plumbing items, electrical items, windows & doors etc.  From a Block point of view, our current system is very straight forward and works as well as we’d want it.  When you place a block, it pulls it from a specific block folder and inserts it into the drawing.  If we ever need to amend or update a Block, we simply alter the block, save it, then when it is pulled from that specific folder it will be the latest version of that block. You do have to select a reload option when you open the drawing, which is just a click of a mouse. That then updates the Blocks in the drawing to match any updated Blocks that may have been changed (in the library folder).  This is good as we have 5 people all pulling blocks from the same folder/library, ensuring they all use the latest version of any block.

I’ve created all the blocks we need (hundreds of them) and I’ve created the main drawings (all the walls etc.).  Now, what I’m trying to achieve is the best way to replicate a similar or better way for my team and I to insert the blocks from the same place(s).  My concern is, that Autocad keeps both used and unused blocks in the drawing, and my worry is people using an outdated block that’s been amended. How do we know if a Block is the latest/newest version etc.??  And what would be the best way for my team to access the same block content.  I’ve tried using the blocks pallet, and pulling from libraries, which seems ok but not great (still not sure if I’m doing it the right way though?) and also used the tool Pallets, which again seems good in some ways, but (correct me if I’m wrong) seems to dump blocks from a certain drawing into an existing drawing, rather than maintain a link to a specific block folder.

Any help would be massively appreciated.

Kind regards

Matthew

[RobDraw]

I've always preferred the block library. Coworkers need to be instructed to use the library diligently. Other methods are valid and work just fine. There isn't really a best practice as long as everyone is on the same page. I would however avoid keeping blocks in the drawing template(s). Commonly used blocks that don't change are okay, though.

[vinodkl]

Hi @MRF80 

What you are asking for can best be achieved by creating a tool palette for the team and update the block in the network folder which would reflect changes in tool palette 🙂

https://www.lifewire.com/build-and-customize-autocad-tool-palettes-485272 

[MRF80]

Hi RobDraw,

Firstly, thanks for your reply!

This may seem a daft question, but how do I avoid keeping blocks in the drawing template? For example, let's say a 600mm wide cabinet block called "CAB600" is in a drawing or most likely many drawings. If I wanted to change that block, perhaps I wanted to make it look a little different for some reason, how do I ensure that next time one of the team opens any drawing, that "CAB600" block get updated? Would Autocad have a way of knowing that it's been changed in a library and to update it? Or is there some kind of operation to perform, similar to the reload function we have on our older CAD system?

Kind regards

Matthew

[RobDraw]

There's no single best way. There are many options to cover a variety workflows. The best one to use is a subjective decision based on the team(s) preferred workflow.

[RobDraw]

Once a block is in a drawing, it will not update from a library or template. A template is just a starting point. It does not maintain anything in files that have been created from it. In most practices, updating blocks in old drawings is not desirable and can potentially cause huge issues. If this needs to be done, a targeted rather than global update should be considered but keep in mind that it is not easy.

[MRF80]

Hi vinodkl,

Thanks for the link. This was very helpful indeed! I really think the Tool Pallete is the way to go for this.

The one think I'm not quite getting is the Sharing of the Palette to a shared location. I get the idea of it, but not quite getting how it's done?

I can find the pallete in the menu as shown on the link, and then move it to shared location. What I cant do is then link that pallet back?? Its gone now, and although I know where it is, I cant load it to my drawing??

Matt

[ВeekeeCZ]

I think that since the BLOCK PALLETE was introduced it's beyond any other option. What I love most is the easy key-based search... see HERE for a quick intro. Could be a could or just a company server...