Data Shortcut Path Changing or Not Holding

[kevinluebbert1851]

My data shortcut paths are changing or not holding and require to be set each time Civil 3D is started and the drawing is opened. We store files on a network drive. When I create a Civil 3D file with a surface and an alignment and establish a data shortcut folder, then I can re-open that Civil 3D file and the data shortcut path will hold. If a different user opens the same Civil 3D file then they need to re-select the data shortcut folder. Only the user that creates the data shortcut folder is able to open the drawing and have the data shortcut folder stay. otherwise Civil 3D just selects some other data projects folder. This happens in both ver2019 and ver2022. Initial tests indicate the same thing happening with an "out-of-the-box" install of ver2023.

Any ideas? Our network has also recently had some updates. I will talk to the network administrator about ideas.

I am also currently working with Autodesk support on this also. A solution is not found yet.

Thanks for your help.

[r.capper]

We had this with one machine and the culprit turned out to be a typo in the mapped drive name. Check both users are using the same mapping perhaps?

[lim.wendy · Accepted solution]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for reaching out to the forum. In addition to the suggestion provided by Robin, it sounds like you are losing connection to your project when the drawing opens. We have seen the issues where the project directory template contains the ShortcutsHistory.xml file. In this case, you would need to remove it from your template (folder structure).

Go to \_Shortcuts\ShortcutsHistory.xml file and see if it looks the same in both projects. This may mean that the XML file is being duplicated in troubled project and not created directly by Civil 3D, as Civil 3D should create unique ID for each project. 

Do the following:
1.     Navigate to your project's ..\_Shortcuts\ folder and delete ShortcutsHistory.xml
2.     From Civil 3D, set your working folder to ...\<project>\ (new ShortcutsHistory.xml file will be created with a unique ID)
3.     Re-associate your drawings to this new project
4.     Run REFRESHSHORTCUTNODE command and save the drawing
5.     See if the project name sticks

Note: Make a copy of these two XML files (ShortcutFolders.xml and WorkingFolders.xml)

1.     Remove two XML files from Project Management directory (i.e. C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 2016\enu\Project Management).
2.     Restart Civil 3D
3.     Open your X.dwg file and associate the proper Working Folder and Project (Set Working Folder as desired and then use Associate Project to Current Drawing command)

Take a look at this article by cadpilot and this thread to understand more. 

Let us know if you require further assistance.

If the suggestions helped you, please hit the "Accept Solution" button, as it helps make the solution easier to find for others who might have the same issue. Knowing which topics are solved or not can also help our many users find the questions that still need to be answered. It’s also a great way to say thank you and give recognition to whoever helped you. 

[sboon]

Are you Associating the shortcuts folder to the current drawing?

[kevinluebbert1851]

This solution works. The only caveat that I found was it needs to completed in full for each project. I tested 3 different projects and it worked all three times if you follow all three steps. The second half of the solution is what worked for me. See the pic from the original message below.

What I did for step 1 was to make a backup folder at

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 202022\enu\Project Management\Backup.

and then dragged the two xml files into that new backup folder.

Then just follow step 2 and 3.

Thank you so much for your help, I appreciate it.

-Kevin

[lim.wendy]

Glad it worked out Kevin! And many thanks for sharing your findings. 

See you around!

[kevinluebbert1851 · Accepted solution]

This is the workflow that I found works:

(Also attached is a pdf of this workflow)

Do the following:

1.   Navigate to your project's _Shortcuts folder at T:\Projects\<Project Number>\_Shortcuts and delete the ShortcutsHistory.xml file.

2.   From the Civil 3D Toolspace Prospector tab, set your working folder to the proper project folder. (A new ShortcutsHistory.xml file will be created with a unique ID)

3.   Re-associate your drawings to this new project.

4.   Run REFRESHSHORTCUTNODE command and save the drawing.

5.   Close Civil3D and restart. Reopen drawing. See if the Data Shortcut path holds.

If the project Data Shortcut path still does not hold, do the following:

1.   Close Civil 3D.

2.   Navigate to C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 2022\enu\Project Management\

(Hint – you will need to check the Hidden Items box as shown above to view this path)

3.   Create a new folder here called Backup. This is an example of the new folder path. C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 2022\enu\Project Management\Backup

4.   Drag the ShortcutFolders.xml and the WorkingFolders.xml into the newly created Backup folder.

5.   Restart Civil 3D. Open your drawing

6.   Set Working Folder… and then Set Data Shortcuts Project Folder… to your proper project number.

7.   Type REFRESHSHORTCUTNODE.

8.   Re-associate your drawings to this current project.

9.   Your data shortcuts project path should now hold.

[MSchille-1994]

Question for all of you, are you setting the working folder to each specific project folder on your server, and then setting the project folder to each project as well.....or are you setting the Working Folder to, in our case, the z: drive, and then setting the Project Folder to each job folder?

I am having the same problem where the Projects Folder is not sticking when opening drawings in different jobs.  Our setup is........Working Folder is set to the Z: drive, then the Projects Folder gets set to each individual job folder on the Z: drive.  We have a job template folder on our Z: drive and in that folder is the "_Shortcuts" folder.  When our secretary creates a new job folder with a project number, that new job folder then shows up in the Project Folder list.

I thought this way of having one constant Working Folder always set was the preferred way, no? 

Incidentally, I have ran through the instructions mentioned above, but no luck.  When the Working Folder.xml gets recreated on my C: drive, the path in it is the C: drive, not the Z: drive.

PLEASE HELP!!!!! 😊

[kevinluebbert1851]

MSchille-1994,

We do the file/project structure the same way. Our main project folder is the T: drive, yours is the Z: drive. We did seem to have pretty decent results using the previous instructions.

Latest update - even the directions that I posted previously are not usually working. Some people have suggested maybe a server hiccup or data packet something or other or even the company security software causing something issue with something somewhere.

Lastly, our Civil 3D users here just had to get accustomed to checking and setting the project each time a drawing was opened.

Sorry... Currently that's the best I got.

[MSchille-1994]

@kevinluebbert1851 thanks much for the update, wanted to verify our workflow.  BTW.....have you noticed this other shortcuts.xml file under each project folder?  I have no idea what it's for as the contents are the same in every project.  I just happen to notice the instructions don't mention anything about it.  We have it in our Template project folder as well and I am not sure if it is hindering any of this.

[kevinluebbert1851]

Yes all of our projects have that file as well. I am not sure what is going on with it.

[MSchille-1994]

@kevinluebbert1851 okay.  Thank you for your timely replies, good to know.