How to move files from one project to another project

[Anonymous]

Hello,  I've got a file that I want to copy out of an old project folder and place into an new.  I found a video where Aaron shows how to export the file, but this must have changed since I don't see this option. His video was 2016.

In Jan 2017, how do a copy a file, with all its referenced parts into a clean new project?

Thanks,

Walt

[miguel.palma82]

Hello @Anonymous

You can move/copy your files to one project an other using myhub; you just search the file, and deploy the menu, then select copy.

I appreciate your kudos and select this answer as a solution.

[HughesTooling · Accepted solution]

If you have linked designs the only way to copy to another project is to use the online dashboard to download the top level design that all the other designs are linked to. If you have a 2d drawing of the top level design download just that file. Whichever you download, the top level design or the 2d drawing you'll get a fz3 file containing all linked designs, upload this file using Fusion's data panel to your new project.

Mark

[Anonymous]

Excellent.  Thanks guys.

Walt

[Anonymous]

I found that you need to open the design in its original location; while this file is open navigate to the project folder you would like to move it to. 

Now you can simply Save as: and it will give you the option now to save it in this Project folder.

[HughesTooling]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I found that you need to open the design in its original location; while this file is open navigate to the project folder you would like to move it to. 

Now you can simply Save as: and it will give you the option now to save it in this Project folder.

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You need to be careful doing this. If you do this with an assembly you only copy the assembly design, it will still be linked to the original designs sub\linked design. Also this will only work with a team hub if you want to save to a different project.

The other big problem is Save As creates an exact copy right down to the IDs used for geometry, if you use an original design and a copy made with Save As in an assembly it will corrupt the design. You should always use Save Copy As to create a copy that's unique.

So if you have an assembly and you want a copy of the assembly and all of its linked part files the method above is still the only way. Download the assembly as an fz3 file then upload to a different project.

Mark

[moth3r]

No that's not solved, at least not for me. Fusion360 Achilles heel is the file/asset management. File management UI is just terrible, huge amounts of lost space only to show a couple of folders.

 I am ok with the cloud but I am not ok with a lack of support for standards there. I was certain this will be solved in a matter of years but apparently, not so much happened there!

 I do not like the idea of following the tutorial to achieve most simple tasks which are sorted even before Apple, in the Xerox Alto ( Xerox Alto is the first computer designed from its inception to support an operating system based on a graphical user interface (GUI)).

 So yeah, not following the conventions, copying files to move them, going back and forth what was copied, whatnot, I mean it's just bad how much time is spent. Move command only works on folders, multiple selections are ignored. There is also a big difference in the web and apps' behavior management.

WHY OH WHY, there is no way to MOVE folder inside the F360 app but that option is present on the web UI?

And even than and there move/copy it's not working properly for many of my projects. Like here on example I have all the files in the sub-folder of the project. This is not a distributed design but still, this sub-folder cannot be moved/copied around for some unknown reasons.

Please do something about it!

[sasikanth.kollipara]

Thanks for your valuable feedback. on the web interface when you are trying to move the folder, what error did you face? 

In general, failure in a copy could be related to "any file in use" or if there are any incorrect references? 

Pasting the error you face, can help us to give you more details about the discrepancy.

Regards,

Sasi

[moth3r]

It just says that it cannot move the folder. I don't think there is any 'uses' or 'used in' files left. I have resolved all that cases manually so I move forward. Ok, why we don't get the message saying exactly which files are causing the problem? Why even bother to investigate each file manually. Also F360 should automatically relink all the files to new folders if something gets moved. This is not a rocket science. The whole Fusion360 asset management system is a mess. Why, should we just rely on having everything in the root? I guess dev don't model so they do not have to face that reality. But even with that primitive system in place we should get more vertical space. Right now, I can only see about 10-12 projects listed at once. Any more advanced user of F360 has to scroll for ages or even search to open something you need. I mean, if the cloud is the future that layout definitely is not. At the moment a current implementation reminds of the PIP boy from Fallout Game. I am not even joking. https://i2.wp.com/www.thumbsticks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Fallout-4-Pip-Boy-App.jpg?fit=1280%...

[sasikanth.kollipara]

Thanks for the reply. 

I hope you are using FusionTeam (web interface) for your workflow. 

Also, the design is in such a way if you wanted to go for the folder move FusionTeam don't load messages (either failure or success) assuming it would cause user bad experience. And you can always do "Select all" and then click for Move to new Project (after creating a Folder) which will give you the messages accordingly. 

And regarding the loading of more projects in a single go (on the web), we have pagination implemented by which we understand that the page loading performance is very good. Anyways, you can always use PIN/UnPIN projects to top the most used projects. 

This is designed for ease of all user workflows. However, you can post your ideas in Ideastation, which will be picked by team based on the priorities. 

Hope this helps. 

If this information is helpful, please consider marking it as an Accepted Solution by clicking on the "Accept as Solution" link, below. Taking a moment to do this will help others with similar questions find useful answers.

Thanks in advance for understanding,

Sasi

[jszaboABD67]

I am also having the same problem of moving a folder from one Project to another.  I have tried some work-arounds that seem to have been successful in other folders, but I have many that seem to be immovable objects.

My most successful method so far is to;

1. create a folder in the project root and then move all other files and folders into this one.

2. check every file is not listed as being used and fix this by opening them up, making an inconsequential change and then saving.

3. opening the project in the online portal and moving the single folder containing all the project files to the new project.

4. if the folder actually gets moved, I then unpack the folders and files out of the "moving" folder to get the structure back to how it was originally.

Unfortunately this is only successful about half the time.   The main error I get is "Cannot move selected folder.", which doesn't help me one little bit, it actually frustrates the sh*t out of me.

Has there been any progress made in this area?

I am the only Project Member for all of these examples. There are no other users who have access to the project files.

[jimschoen]

To the Fusion Team, has there been any progress in the last 18 months to fix this problem.  I still have the problem and as noted above the various workarounds are hit and miss.  

[fheineman]

I also am trying to move a folder to a new project and having this same problem with the same frustrating error message "Cannot move selected folder". 

Fusion 360 Team - PLEASE HELP!