Tool Palettes saved in Autodesk Docs trying to upload when it shouldn't

[Nathan_Tigner]

Hello All,

My company is considering switching to BIM 360 and the Construction Cloud for all projects as our panzura server contract is coming to an end.

I have been testing using the cloud and have had great results, but I am getting a strange error that I hope someone can help me with.

We have dozens of tool palettes that I manage. I use the 2-folder workflow. I have a BUILD folder where I make changes to the tool palettes and then a DEPLOY folder, which all my user are connected to and pull the palettes from. When I make changes to the BUILD folder, I copy the contents to the DEPLOY folder with a batch file (as to avoid copying files that did not change) and everyone can see the changes.

This workflow works perfectly on our traditional server, and it works in the cloud as well with one exception.

When my users close CAD or Civil 3D, CAD is trying to write the palettes back to the deploy folder. This folder is set to give them read permissions only so that the tool palettes are safe. This results in 59 files failing to upload and throwing errors in the desktop connector whenever CAD is closed.

I was under the impression that the Tool Palette File Locations in the options dialog would write to the topmost path, and that path for all of them is the default tool palette path that autodesk sets. C:\Users\User Name\appdata\roaming\autodesk\c3d 2024\enu\support\toolpalette and then my tool palettes located at C:\Users\User Name\DC\ACCDocs\COMPANY\COMPANY CAD Libraries\Project Files\TP\DEPLOY is below it.

Anyone have any ideas? I am currently testing everything in AutoCAD 2024 (although I tested and the problem happens in AutoCAD 2023 and 2022), and everyone is using the latest release of the Autodesk desktop connector (v.16.2.0.2007) and also had the problems on previous release (v.16.1.1.1950).

Maybe this post belongs in a BIM 360 or Desktop Connector forum? Not sure.

Thank you

[dmfrazier]

"This workflow works perfectly on our traditional server, and it works in the cloud as well with one exception.

"...

"When my users close CAD or Civil 3D, CAD is trying to write the palettes back to the deploy folder. This folder is set to give them read permissions only so that the tool palettes are safe."

Is this true also of the folder on your "traditional server"?

[Nathan_Tigner]

Yes. I use the exact same setup on our current server. I like them to a DEPLOY folder that is read only for them, and everything works perfectly. 

[dmfrazier]

Yes, shortly after I posted I realized that was a "stupid" question.

"...CAD is trying to write the palettes back to the deploy folder. This folder is set to give them read permissions only so that the tool palettes are safe. This results in 59 files failing to upload and throwing errors in the desktop connector whenever CAD is closed."

Can you post a shot of the error message?

I suspect that "trying to write back to the deploy folder" is happening in both cases, but in the "traditional server" scenario, the desktop connector "understands" the reason it can't write back (because it has a more "familiar" relationship with the server, so to speak) and so no errors are "thrown" (visible to the user). I wonder if this could be proven out by looking for Windows Event Viewer log entries (either on the client or the server).

[Nathan_Tigner]

After searching for exactly that issue, I think I agree with you. I believe this is what CAD is ALWAYS doing, but because on our traditional server there is no visual upload I just didn't know it was doing it. I am in the process of having IT verify this, but I believe that is the case.

So, I am thinking I only have 2 options then. 

1. Simply ignore the error, let the palettes fail the upload by the other users knowing that it is supposed to be that way and it's not actually hurting anything. (Files that are supposed to upload, still do and work well).

2. Find a different cloud solution to store the atc palette files that everyone can read. By doing it that way, even if the palettes still try and upload back to the cloud upon CAD closing, it wouldn't bog down the desktop connector. 

[ChrisGrochowski]

I'm using the same workflow and have the same issue. This seems to bog down ADC. The users will also always see the red ball indicating there is an issue that needs to be addressed. I think real problems will get lost in the mix and users will just ignore the warning completely. Autodesk could solve this issue by allowing us to turn off the write function when AutoCAD is closed with an SYSVAR maybe?

[LyleHardin]

Well, I came in search for a different reason, but I'm glad I stumbled upon this as now when I get those errors, I'll know I'm not the only one. lol.

My issue is trying to point to ACC for the tool palette block i'm trying to insert into my dwgs. Rather than recreate all our tool palettes I'm doing a search and replace in the .atc file, replacing the network drive with the ACC / DOCS drive.

Replacing P:\ACADWIN\Blocks.... etc.

with

C:\Users\%username%\DC\ACCDocs.... etc.

But I get an error when the block is trying to insert as it can't find it here:

C:\Users\186sername\DC\ACCDocs.... etc.

How should I point to the username ?

Thanks

[DJ_Malone]

AutoCAD can't read %username% as a valid part of the path. I had to set up a drive (in our case "K:") that was sync'd to the Docs folder where we keep our standards, then set the CAD paths there. I created a batch file and put it in the users start up folder so that K would get mapped each time upon reboot. 

It's not as complicated as it may sound, I used ChatGPT to help me do it all. 

[ChrisGrochowski]

You can also have everyone create a folder like C:\ADC and change your workspace to point to it. This gets you around the username issue but requires coordination and communication. Still does not resolve the issue of ADC throwing errors when it cannot write back to the palette folder. One workaround that could work is to let people write to it and have an automation that overwrites the DOCS folder with what you have on your server. This would not stop anyone from blowing up a tool during the workday but is easily fixed if they do, and will always reset each night. 

[scott_coverdale]

Hi!

The way i have it setup is the deploy folder is user controlled and local only.

The Build folder would be controlled by you and xcopyied to the deploy folder.

I think the trouble you are running into is having the deploy folder also on the cloud. i put it at C:\CAD_MGMT_DEPLOY