Moving the "Fusion 360" Directory on Mac

[Anonymous]

When I first opened Fusion, it created a directory in my Documents folder (I'm on Mac), with 5 empty sub directories called "design rules, electronics cam, scripts, spice, and ulps". I tried deleting it, but it gets created again whenever I open Fusion. I can't figure how to remove it/relocate it, so I would love some help doing so. Thanks!

[lance.carocci]

I don't believe this directory can be relocated within Fusion at this time. What is the problem you are facing?

You could try moving the directory elsewhere, then creating a symlink to it in the initial location, but this is somewhat advanced, and not guaranteed to work.

[Anonymous]

Merely that the directory's placement interferes with my preferred filesystem layout. It would be great to be able to choose the folder's path. Hopefully this will be added in the future. Thanks for your help anyway! 

[lance.carocci]

Could you provide an example of your preferred folder structure?

I can assume - for example, I like to span installs and libraries across a number of storage drives based on purpose and size - but I would like to be certain in case your example is different.

[Anonymous]

Sure! I'm a student, and so for me my computer serves as both a school workstation and personal computer. I prefer to keep these worlds separate, so I have things laid out in 2 folders within my documents folder, school and personal. Within personal I have folders for code, 3d designs, images, or other projects. I would prefer to have the fusion 360 directory within my 3d design folder, so that I can keep my sorting straight. Image attached, thanks!

[ambrose]

Hi, just adding another voice. I also would like control over this folder on Windows. Really I don't want the folder at all; but at least if it could be hidden away in AppData or somewhere like that it wouldn't annoy me daily. I thought Fusion was supposed to be cloud based, so why is it storing things locally like this?

I guess this is a legacy inherited from the Eagle integration. I hope it can be tidied up soon.

More generally why do so many software developers think it's ok to clutter up the "My Documents" directory with their assumptions. Not just an Autodesk problem but infuriating nonetheless.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I just wanted to report that I have excactly the same problem. But for me just like ambrose said, there are other apps that create these unnecessary empty folders. Adobe Lightroom creates one aswell in the "documents" folder. And my calculator app (TI-Nspire CX CAS Student Software). All of these folders are empty so I don't get, why they can't be deleted permanently.

If anyone has advice, how I can remove these folders, I would be very pleased.

By the way I'm also using Mac.

[beananimal]

And here we are again with a  "best practices" and "common conventions"  issue and the fact that AD tends ignore both at will, just like they have with the mac install location. 

System required files and folders and settings data should be stored where they are expected (application folder, in library, program files, appdata, etc).  User saved files should reside in a USER chosen location. PERIOD. 

Why do you folks always buck the system, do it your way or half assed, then ask for end-user clarification as to why they are frustrated about things that were sorted out decades ago when these operating systems became mainstream, honestly?

As for the other applications mentioned above... Adobe is another 800 pound gorilla that also screws up most things they touch in favor of "their way"

[nils.gerke]

It's also quite inconvenient to have it under Documents, since this folder is automatically synced with iCloud. I would love to be able change this.

[gregomatic]

I am also having this problem and would love for either the folder to not exist, or to be tucked anywhere else other than Documents, which is normally what I use as a cloud sync folder.

[danielL6LCQ]

Has there been a solution to this? This is an intensely intrusive way to manage files. The "Documents" folder is a highly used and already clutter-prone folder in most peoples devices. Please fix this. 

[vinc.beaulieu]

I agree, this is quite annoying. There should be a way to setup the location of that folder. We can do it in MATLAB, I don't see why that has not been implemented in Fusion.

[lehane]

I'd love to be able to move this folder out of my Documents folder.  Why is it even there instead of the Application Support folder?

[osmodion]

Is there a way to specify directory locations yet? The Fusion 360 and Autodesk folders /Users/<name> stick out like a sore thumb in my file organization, as well as the one mentioned above in /Users/<name>/Documents/Fusion 360.

[alanQG9SC]

looks like there still ins't any way to relocate Fusion360 unfortunately. I agree with all the others. I definitely do not want an application in my Documents folder. I expect to find the App in Applications.

[lance.carocci]

The app is installed at the user level in Application Support, so it will not appear in the system Applications folder; the launch shortcut appears in the user Applications folder.

[beananimal]

Lance - 

The app installs to a non standard location with a random folder ID and stores user files in a non-standard location as well. Every update creates a new executable and the existing pinned icon breaks because it points to the old executable. I don't think you will find a MacOS user that is happy with the way that this application updates itself or behaves on MacOS. And this is ignoring the glaring UI focus stealing, clipping and other years-long outstanding issues with the MacOS version. 

[alanQG9SC]

Hi Lance

I think we all understand that this is how the App is installed. The point everyone is making is that it isn't a sensible way to install it as it forces users to abandon logical file structures in favour of a structure that Autodesk forces upon us. I would very much appreciate if Autodesk would reconsider this approach and allow the apt be isstalled in the system applications folder on Mac.

Thanks

[beananimal]

There is a 99% chance that Lance will not be back in here... or if he does respond, it will be yet one more "but can you explain why this bothers you" type of post. 

In fairness, Lance likely thought he was helping before he inadvertently stepped into the pile of poop that is a years long issue that AD has no intention of addressing. The same for any of the AD staff that poke their head into these threads about long standing issue that get perpetually ignored. 

[beananimal]

Lance - 

As pointed out throughout this (and several other threads) - User documents should be located in the user's documents folder where they can be backed up and manipulated. Apple and Microsoft have long established best practices for documents storage, application installation, file locations and UI design for their respective platforms. AD ignores most of this and does things in very non-standard ways that create all kinds of frustrations and conflicts. 

AD's chosen location for the Application is non-standard, as is the update behavior, as is the user document storage location. Likewise focus stealing "notifications" are a major issue, and BOTH Apple and Microsoft have well established notification interfaces built into their operating systems that AD absolutely refuses to leverage. The laundry list is extremely OLD and LONG and nothing really ever changes. In fact, these oddities tend to grow new oddities instead of  ever being fixed.

We get a new AD guy or gal in these threads every year or so saying "but can you explain why this behavior is an issue for you?" It would be comical if it was not so frustrating.