ACC Connected Support Files / Project-Aware Problems

[vaughan.giles7AGEV]

Problem Statement

When a project is setup using the Project-Aware / Connected Support Files workflow, individual user Option settings are actively removed when working on the ACC project. This means that individual settings (for example different consultants custom CAD systems / setups) are removed when working on a Connected Support File Project.

Why is this a problem?

On the surface it seems innocent enough; Project-Aware is doing what it is designed to do - make project-specific standards take precedence over individual settings, however the problem is more nuanced, allow me to explain.

Scenario

You're a Project Administrator and setup Project-Aware for your project, correctly pathing items that are considered important for your project, such as templates, additional support paths and the like - all well and good. The problem is that, when implemented the "My Settings" and "Classic AutoCAD Settings" do not account for all user settings and often pathing is removed aside from bare-bone basics.

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Example of Project-Aware project Options configuration

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Example of regular non Project-Aware drawing file Options configuration

As you can see, the support file paths are different and don't follow the base setup, so you have now lost all of your customization on your new Project-Aware ACC project. This is a big problem when you work on a multi-consultancy project where each company has it's own base settings / customizations that you don't want overwritten.

Potential Solution

1. Allow for greater flexibility when setting up Project-Aware.
   Allow for users (perhaps if allowed by the Project Administrator via a check-box) to import their base settings so individual / company customizations are not automatically removed when working on particular projects.
2. When setting up Project-Aware, make Project Administrators aware of how they can "undo" Project-Aware, so they can restore their projects when working in a high-stress environment.
   • FYI to fellow ACC Admins: Project-Aware setup can be removed by simply deleting the folder that gets automatically created:
     • 

Post-Summary

Project-Aware / Connected Support Files is a fantastic invention, it just requires some fine-tuning to get it to work in a multi-consultancy / user-configuration environment without an excessive amount of setup to account for each company - call it a hybrid approach where by users can keep some settings, but the Project standards take precedence where paths have been set.