Mapping local folders to mimick network shares for remote workers

[kevincurrey]

Here's a simple, imperfect, but functional solution our office is using to work remotely.

We have placed all of our current project files in a shared onedrive/sharepoint folder. The "subst" command (from the windows command prompt) can map any folder to a drive letter. So the root of our shared folder is mapped as our office P: drive, and now Civil 3d can see xrefs and data shortcuts like it did in the office.

To make it easy and fast for our users, I've placed this batch file in the root our shared folder:

subst P: "%cd%"

start P:\

Change "P" for whatever your drive letter is, and voila. Civil 3d now sees the same path it's used to in the office.

The %cd% argument means that it will map the current directory the batch file is run from, so regardless of an individual user's Onedrive (or dropbox, or whatever your cloud drive of choice), that folder will become the mapped drive.

The second line, "start P:\" isn't necessary, all it does is open the folder as the "P:" drive so that a user can see that batch file worked.

Note that this will need to be run any time a user logs off / restarts.

There's three big gotcha's to be aware of with Onedrive/Sharepoint  -

1. Sheet Set Manager HATES it. We had to designate one person in charge of the sheetset and everyone close out. Otherwise onedrive gets confused and starts making multiple copies of the dst file.

2 dwl files don't get copied, so you have no way of knowing who has a cad file open, if there's any doubt we've been communicating in our chat group.

3. AutoCAD saves files by renaming the .dwg as a .bak, then saving a new dwg. This means sharepoint can't version the file, and it also means that sometimes the new .dwg won't get uploaded through the sync client while the drawing is open. That could potentially make the file temporarily disappear for other users. Once the drawing is closed, it will upload again.

Good luck everyone, and stay healthy.

[rl_jackson]

@kevincurrey Thanks for sharing the info, I wasn't aware that this was possible on OneDrive with DS data. The problems your having also are good to know, especially for those who routine use DS (I don't, unless sending to surface to the CE firm). With the current lockdown and possibility of future lockdowns I've been looking at multiple avenues to accomplish file sharing and keeping everything running at the office even without the full crew being there. Even looked at how to better transmit data to the field crews for construction staking and the like. It's been a wild ride the last few weeks, hope the south Florida heat sends this stuff running soon. 

Cheers, and be safe. 

[lynn_zhang]

Hello @kevincurrey 

Thank you so much for sharing the solution in our Community! Hope this will help other remote workers who are facing the same challenge. Stay safe and stay healthy!

[breichel1]

Were you ever able to resolve your 3 issues? I have the exact same experience. I think the disappearing files before closing is the most disconcerting when working as a team. I am assuming you are using Sharepoint Online. I am not very happy about OneDrive as the connection client. I've had lots of issues with it duplicating files and failing to sync files for various reasons (not limited to Autocad).

[Neilw_05]

In an earlier discussion about working remotely, a user showed how Vault can be used to manage remote workflows. The way it works is a user can check out files from the vault and work on it locally. Vault locks the file from being edited by other users while allowing them to reference it into their files. Once the user checks it back in, Vault takes off the lock and the file is available for editing. While the file is out for editing it can be updated as needed so every remains current.

I have not run any tests on this so I don't know what issues might arise. It did look like a good solution for working on files locally which eliminates bandwidth latency issues.