HOW TO CHANGE INDIVIDUAL USERNAME DIRECTORY STRUCTURE IN AUTOCAD TO LOAD PDF

[9111965]

Ever since we went to the cloud for Autocad I'm now having issues with loading up pdf's from a certain directory. How can I modify the command string to change SamPesiridis as the username to default to individual username profiles as when someone else clicks on the Sewer - 100 series icon in my Tool palettes it still defaults to my username and doesn't work for everyone else on Onedrive. Basically I need Autocad to default to individual usernames when they click on this icon in my Tool Palettes.

I hope this makes sense.

[paullimapa]

you'll probably encounter similar issues attaching not only pdfs but also dwgs using Onedrive.

perhaps it's time to invest in Autodesk Docs | Download & Pricing | Autodesk

[9111965]

No dwg's are fine using Onedrive, everyone have synced the directories where the drawings are, just pdf's don't work.

[pendean]

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@9111965 wrote:

....everyone have synced the directories where the drawings are, just pdf's don't work.

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Greetings

In AutoCAD 2024 and lower, referencing PDFs and DWG files are not different, nor do they act differently: perhaps there is something else getting missed, perhaps a coding difference or pathing method difference in your command strings for DWGs vs PDFs

[dmfrazier]

"...loading up pdf's from a certain directory. How can I modify the command string to change SamPesiridis as the username to default to individual username profile..."

If the path to the PDFs is the same for everyone except for username, then consider placing that path in the Support Files Search Path for all users and then removing it from the tool macro.

[9111965]

Thanks for your response dmfrazier, but I'm not sure what you mean. Should I place the C:/Users/SamPesiridis/...... etc. in other users Support File search Path in Autocad?? If so, I don't have administrative rights to include that path. Then you mention remove it from the tool macro. How will it then load the pdf?? The problem is my tool palette command string I think. Explorer opens the pdf using my userprofilefolder and when other uses try and open that pdf using the tool palette key, this is the message they get.

PM Design Pty Ltd is the companies Onedrive folder where all my tool palettes and pdf's are shared.

Is there a command that will overwrite my userprofilefolder in the tool macro to theirs???

[dmfrazier]

Honestly, I don't know if this will work, but "in theory" it seems that it should work.

"Should I place the C:/Users/SamPesiridis/...... etc. in other users Support File search Path in Autocad??

Sort of...

When a Profile is exported from one user's AutoCAD and then imported into another user's AutoCAD, any paths stored in the Support Files Search Path (SFSP) that point to user-specific folders and appear there with that user's username are actually not stored that way (in the Windows registry). They are stored (not visible to the user thru Options) as a replaceable parameter. AutoCAD "resolves" the variables for display in Options.

So, the first path in the image above is actually stored as %UserProfileFolder%\Appdata\etc., wherein the replaceable parameter (a Windows environment variable, much like an AutoCAD system variable) changes automatically based on the username of the logged in Windows user.

Unfortunately (or maybe it's fortunate), you can't enter the path this way in Options. It has to be done by importing a profile that was exported from a user that has the SFSP set up the way you want it. (Importing a profile makes changes to the Windows registry, which are then "read" by AutoCAD when it is launched. This is when the replaceable parameter is converted to an actual path.)

"Then you mention remove it from the tool macro. How will it then load the pdf??"

"Is there a command that will overwrite my userprofilefolder in the tool macro to theirs???"

This part is where I'm stretching the theory a bit, because I have no previous experience with this particular type of macro. In AutoCAD generally, when filenames are referenced without explicitly stated paths, AutoCAD "looks" to the SFSP (or other paths stored in Options depending on the context) to "search" for the referenced file.

I know this works in several scenarios in AutoCAD, but I don't know if it works in the case of the type of macro you are dealing with.

I will try to duplicate your conditions and do a test of my own, but hopefully you will be able to put this all together and discover the answer before I do.

[9111965]

Your right dmfrazier, I managed to find a workaround. Pdf's within a Tool Palette that are shared on the Cloud default to individual user profiles now which it wasn't doing from the start. What I did as a test before I went ahead and changed every Tool Palette.atc file was to do a find and replace for example in the  Sewer Standards Tool palette.atc file. Find C:/Users/SamPesiridis and replace it with %userprofile% in all occurrences of pdfs within the .atc file then saved the file and uploaded it to the cloud. See image below.

This then overwrite the problem that other users within the company were having in not being able to find C:/Users/SamPesiridis/......etc.... and it defaulted to their user profile and loaded the shared pdfs. Thanks for everyone who responded especially dmfrazier. Hope this helps anyone else who may come across this issue, in loading pdfs through explorer using the cloud within a company. Cheers.

[dmfrazier]

Nicely improvised, @9111965.

I have edited .ATC files to remove full paths and leave only the filenames (because the Tool Palette Properties interface doesn't allow it) so that AutoCAD is then "forced" to look through the SFSP to find the file, but I hadn't thought of replacing parts of paths with environment variables.  This is good to know for future application.