Autodesk Desktop Connector Updates

[elvtamayo]

I have an idea for the Autodesk Desktop Connector, whether minor or major updates, no longer required to redownload and reinstall the software. Just a regular update will suffice the modification if possible. It is very troublesome for a company with an IT department handling all the technical problems.

[cjtasiatico]

Agree. Hoping that for a major update, there's no need to reinstall the Desktop Connector.

In addition, our company have encountered problems in using the Desktop Connector wherein our BIM 360 users are trying to move files from their local drives to the Desktop Connector. Unfortunately, the files (pdf, dwg files) were not saved. But, when the user uploads them through the web browser, the files get saved. Hence, it is not an internet connection/speed problem. Moreover, there are no pending actions shown in the Desktop Connector and only shows "update software". This gets solved when our IT updated the Desktop Connector. To summarize, use of Desktop Connector is not maximized & even encountering errors if not updated for quite a period of time (say months). Hope this gets resolved as well.

[mikako_harada]

Hi elvtamayo and cjtasiatico,

I'd suggest posting your suggestions to BIM 360 Idea Station:  

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/tag/Desktop%20Connector/tg-p/board-id/2032

If unsure of any workaround, you may also post to the product support forum: 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/bim-360-support/bd-p/183

The PM team owns Idea Station and they should be monitoring that forum. This forum is for API/customization. I doubt PMs is regularly checking posts here. 

(Still interesting to read as we always learn what the pain points are from discussion among customers.  Thanks for sharing.  I hope there will be an API, which be able to provide some kind of workaround in future.  But at this point, I'm not aware of any plan for providing API near future unfortunately.)      

[elvtamayo]

Thank you for this one. I will be reposting this one to the Idea Station. Appreciated you help. Thank you so much.

Best,
Lorenz Edward Tamayo

[mikako_harada]

One more thing - 

Not directly API, but cjtasiatico was telling about the lack of dwg and pdf support.  

Have you seen this AU class by BIM 360 Docs and AutoCAD PMs talking about integrating BIM 360 and AutoCAD?  

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/AutoCAD-and-Construction-Cloud-2020

One of the slides seem to show desktop view, which seems to indicate desktop connector (no page number shown, but somewhere in the middle).  It makes sense to support more file formats dwg is certainly a good candidate to consider.  Something to keep eyes on the development, feels like... 

(Personally, I'm quite excited by the ideas of working with my colleagues in AutoCAD API workgroup through BIM 360 and Forge APIs.)