Suggestions for setting up file tree.

[spaulus]

I am trying to come up with a plan on where to put my files on my computer.

I just installed AutoCAD 2018, I do work for 2 different clients.

I would like to keep blocks and support files separate yet.

Should I place all my files in sub directories under AutoCAD or come directly off of c:\ (I am not on a network)?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Steve

[imadHabash]

Hi,

>> Should I place all my files in sub directories under AutoCAD  <<

NO you shouldn't.

>> ....or come directly off of c:\ (I am not on a network)? <<

try to put your own folders and works on any other drive except C: . this for unusual errors and formatting the system if needed.  

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I would set up a separate file for your work. We use an overall folder for all CAD work and then have separate folders for drawings by year. All title blocks, project blocks, pe stamps, typical details and sections then go in their own folders which make them easy to find! The idea is to set something up that YOU can follow and have easy access to. You don't want to spend lots of time looking for things. Good luck!

[gotphish001]

I suggest don't try to jamb it all into too few folders. You can always get rid of extra ones if you don't use them. 

In a short explanation we have 3 folder trees that relate to just the drawing aspect. One for what we call admin. It only contains pdf and job site pictures, spec sheets etc. It's so other people can get the pdf of the dwg but they don't mistakenly mess with a dwg file. Second we have where we store the dwgs. Broken down by year then project, basically the same as admin but in a different place so no confusion. Under the drawing folder in there we have it split into drawing parts. Like a master x-ref folder for that drawing, base drawings, dwgs from outside sources (surveys, structural, etc,)  Third we have a folder with all the cad manager stuff in it. It's broken down into like blocks, linetype, standard dwg, templates, a folder with lisp files, title blocks, palette files, etc.  I like to create a folder with each cad persons name too. Like Nick_temp. Say I take a snip it or make a copy of a dwg to try a lisp I never used to make sure it doesn't break the drawing, I'll throw it in there. It keeps people from saving things they either will forget about or only use once all in random places. It's the one folder I don't care if people clutter up because only they will use it. 

[TheCADnoob · Accepted solution]

@cadintentions put out a book a while back which i believed discussed project file setup.

It might be worth checking out https://www.amazon.com/AutoCAD-Productivity-Handbook-Techniques-Intentions-ebook/dp/B06XWFBHFZ/ref=a...

[spaulus]

Thank you CADnoob,

I just purchased the book and will do some reading. I had a book similar to this back in the old DOS days.

I started out putting a folder directly off the C:\ drive and then trying to place the client documents in there with the thought of being easy to back up by just dragging the one folder to external hard drive, but recently I have been spending a lot of time searching all over for documents that I somehow managed to place somewhere else for (a good reason at the time) a no good reason.

Thank you everyone for the input.

Steve

[Michiel.Valcke]

That depends a lot on personal preference and if you expect to work for more different clients / projects in the future.

I don't think it is needed to have your file under the Autodesk directory, a simple workfolder can suffice.

But if you're working for yourself I would make a subdivision based per project that contains all the documentation and end-products that you have to deliver. I would keep project dependant x-refs in a subdivision there. Besides those I would make a folder with generally useful information (which you can setup in subfolders) In here I would keep logo's, blocks (you can subdivide them by project or by content, but since you might want to reuse some later for different projects I would subdivide them by content.) templates, etc...

That way you can find all project related documentation in a main folder, and all information that you might want to re-use or re-visit later for a different project in a different folder. 

A good naming scheme will also come in handy. There are several ways to organize this, but the main goal would be that the name can tell you what you're looking for, that it is easy to track back to it, and that it is still concise and easy to process / read through.

One way to do this would be to set the following naming scheme: "client - project - start date - content - version"

You can give your projects and clients abbreviations to make it more easy to read through. and to organise them, for example: 

"EMT - AKELA - 05-16 - ELECTRICITY - B"

This would mean that I this would be the electricity dwg of the Akela Project for the client EMT which was started in may 2016, second version.

Offcourse for some organisations, such a naming scheme will be too cumbersome or too inefficient. But it is just an example.

[leeminardi · Accepted solution]

I recommend creating a folder directly off the C drive and label with the first character being an underscore "_"  such as _CAD-Projects   The underscore ensures that the folder will be listed at the top of the list of folders for the drive when the drive is sorted alphabetically making it easier to find. 

Create sub-folders off this folder for specific projects.  Establish a file naming convention with revision suffixes (e.g., gizmo-01.dwg, gizmo-02.dwg).

Make sure the folder is the default for file saving in AUtoCAD and is listed as a favorite in File Explorer.  I make it a habit never to use File Save because I may not know which folder the file is saved to.  Use File, Save As instead forcing you to think about the folder and the filename.