AUTOSAVE OPTION IN INVENTOR

[Boopathi_Sivakumar]

Hi Guys,

      Actually one of our customer is  looking for Autosave option in Inventor, So as far I know there is no such feature in Inventor, So I tried Forums I found code regarding auto Save I attached a Link here but When I tried to use  it doesn't seems working So kindly give me any solutions,

Link:  https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-ideas/autosave-inventor-files/idi-p/4320299

Regards,

Boopathi

[mcgyvr]

There is the save reminder timer.. (tools..application options...save tab)

But other than that its not recommended to force any autosave functionality in Inventor as it could cause corruption of the files.. (Or so goes Autodesks reason they haven't built any "autosave" functionality into Inventor to date)

Time to teach the user better computer practices and enable the "save reminder timer" until they learn to save on their own.. 

BTW.... Its "technical" not "techinical" 

[dgreatice · Accepted solution]

Try This,

it not iLogic code, place this code in VBA macro. 

Don't forgot to first save.

Public Sub TimerSetting()
    i = InputBox("Input Timer", "Timer Form")
    i = i * 60
    If i > 600 Then
        MsgBox ("Maksimal Timer adalah 30menit, Timer di setting 30menit")
        i = 600
    ElseIf i < 60 Then
        MsgBox ("Minimal Timer adalah 1menit, Timer di setting 10menit")
        i = 60
    End If
   
    Dim SetTimer, Start, Finish, TotalTime
    SetTimer = i ' Set duration.
       
        Start = Timer    ' Set start time.
    Do While Timer < Start + SetTimer
        DoEvents    ' Yield to other processes.
    Loop
        Finish = Timer    ' Set end time.
        TotalTime = Finish - Start    ' Calculate total time.
       
        Dim oDoc As Document
            Set oDoc = ThisApplication.ActiveDocument
        oDoc.Save2 (True)
        MsgBox "Documentnya sudah di Save ya"
End Sub

[Xun.Zhang]

There is an folder called oldversion and there will be a copy of file for every manual save operation as well.

Is it better?

[Anonymous]

An Autosave feature for Inventor is a must in the near future. I've seen excuses post by Autodesk support that we're suppose to pay attention to the "save reminder" and that we'll learn to save eventually as a "good practice". I believe in saving all the time, but as an intent designer I unintentionally allow a lot of time pass by without realizing you haven't saved recently. Before I know it I've put hours into my Inventor design effort.

And as far as learning to save by the save reminder is not a great solution. I get notices all the time from other applications and at times I ignore all of them when the heat is on to crank out the work. Now I have to pay attention to all of them so I can react to Inventors save reminder? I will then be working distracted and my product may suffer. I think it's about time to get an autosave feature in the program.

Let's do the math, a crash happens about 4-5 time a week, or once a day even though my workstation is a Dell Precision spec. and configured to run Autodesk applications, yes 32 gig mem, NVidia video card etc. Each time, the average lost work is 30 minutes (conservative). Company paying $65.00 hr. - 4.5 X $65.00 =$292.50 + an additional time to recover what you lost, guessing 70% = $497.25 x 48 weeks = $23868.00 x guessing 10,000 users = $238,680,000.

I hope my company doesn't read my post or we may be moving to another software that has the autosave feature.

Solidworks does . . . . hmmm

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous

Instead of focusing on a auto-save function I would be focusing on the # of crashes you're experiencing..  That's not normal.  What Inventor version are you using?  Full computer specs, operating system too?   Inventor updates as well?  Video card driver date as well

[The_Angry_Elf]

Honestly, I've never understood the reasoning or desire for an autosave in ANY parametric modeler whether it be in Inventor, SWX, Pro/e Creo, CADDS5i, etc.

Personally I would never want such during the modeling process. Learn to save as you need to, not when the system times it. For example, I'm in the middle of a complex boolean operation that takes a few moments to complete...autosave kicks in and kills the process to save the file. Now I have to start that operation over again, not to mention the possibility that it's not what I wanted to save.

Sorry, but no, I'm fully against having an Autosave function. In the 30 odd years of being on CAD I could count on one hand the number of times the system crashed where I lost any major time in work. Learn to save your work!

[Mark.Lancaster]

@Anonymous

First Autodesk makes the software..  Not the users that assist in this forum.    So its not our software..

As a support person for 20 years and as CAD/Document Mgmt leader for "X" number of yearts..  I'm not looking for a band-aide fix..  Perhaps an auto-save function would be nice..  But you are faced with an issue (crashes) and having an auto-save function for you (in my opinion) is just a band-aide fix.  Its not solving the actual root cause.  That's where I would be focusing on to solve that..

Take my reply or others to your management..  I don't really care because I would tell them you need to focus on the root cause and not a band-aide fix.   Or have them join the discussion.   Okay my 2 cents.. 

[cbenner]

Language!!

[Ted.F]

Seems like a nice group. 

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Ted,

The fact that you replied to this one thread means that you are interested in this topic. This is indeed one of the most frequently asked questions or request. I fully understand the frustration of not having Auto Save in Inventor. But, I do want to articulate why it is not yet implemented.

Yes, it is true that some CAD systems have implemented Auto Save, while Inventor has not. There are differences among them. Here are a few things to consider.

1. Inventor models are distributed and associative. iam files reference ipt files; idw files reference iam, ipt, and ipn files; ipn files reference iam files and ipt files. These association can complicate the Auto Save. What should be saved automatically? Every edited file? Or, selected files?

2. Inventor undo stream is on a per session basis. Within a session, you can undo across multiple operations on multiple documents. You can even undo before the file was saved. It is very flexible compared to some competitors limiting undo within a document or certain operation. However, if you save a file automatically, the undo stream may be chopped off. You can no longer undo back to prior to file save.

3. Inventor does not support backward compatibility, meaning an older Inventor cannot open a file saved in a newer Inventor release (reference is allowed). Unless you are absolutely sure the files are on the current version and migration is Ok, Auto Save may overwrite it.

These are challenges we are facing. Unfortunately, we have not found a good solution to support Auto Save yet. In the meantime, we encourage our users to adopt Vault to help manage the design and the files. If somehow you need to find prior saved files, you can find them at \Old Versions\ folder or from EDM system like Vault. Also we are making Inventor more stable with less crash and you can keep working without worrying when to save.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

I don't see how saving a separated temp file could affect the work flow or corrupt the actual file.

I am not saying that it could be easily done, or even if it could, I just don't understand if we can save as a copy manually why can't it be done automatically the same way some users do with ilogic.

[JDMather]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I don't see how saving a separated temp file could affect the work flow ...

---

How much Inventor experience do you have?

[Anonymous]

2 months only with inventor and about 25 years with AutoCAD

[JDMather]

Save Often.

Don't go any longer without saving that what you would be willing to do over without complaint if the power unexpectedly went out.

I have followed this rule since I started out in AutoCAD in '87 of the last century (after loosing several hours of work) and it has served me well for the past 30+ years.  Learned my lesson!

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! If each file is independent, it should be fairly straight forward to save the file automatically. The issue is that Inventor files are rarely independent, unless you only create individual parts. Assembly files reference other assembly files which reference Part files. Drawing and Presentation files reference Assembly files. Also, within Part files, there can be links. The relationship among the files can be quite complex. It adds to difficulty of implementing Auto-Save.

There are Apps on Inventor App store doing Auto-Save. You can take a look and see if it works for you. I have not tried it myself so I cannot tell how well it works.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

I have over 15 years with Inventor and still lose work due to crashes before saving... as is the case with most good designers, when you are "in the zone" it is really hard to remember to save and the reminder is garbage... at least have a better reminder.

[thomasLEFP9]

I also would like to have an autosave option. For those who don't want it, just turn it off... 

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! This topic has been brought up repeatedly. If there was a reliable way to implement Auto-Save, it would have been done. As I replied earlier, there are multiple hurdles to support it. Like I said, there is an Auto-Save add-in at Inventor App Store. Please feel free to try it. If somehow the files get corrupted, there isn't much we can do unfortunately.

Many thanks!

[Guthery1]

As a designer that has been doing this for 20 years, I can agree that there needs to be an autosave feature.  I have lost significant time on projects because I would get wrapped up into the design and completely lose track of time.  If Inventor had an autosave built in, it would have saved me on several occasions.  Could that cause an issue with modeling?  Maybe, but it depends on how the autosave worked.  

Perhaps have a floating save.  Hold the information in memory until the software is properly closed.  That way if the software crashes, which it does and more often than I like, the data isn't lost but it doesn't have a regular interrupt either.  It could be configured to clear out every time you hit save so the file size can be maintained.  It's not like the computers people are using for Inventor are short on RAM or these days.