Can't Add Appearance to Inventor Material Library 2023

[jwmb224]

In previous releases of Inventor, i could open a document and save custom appearances to the inventor material library and make them available in all subsequent documents that i opened. In Inventor 2023, however, it no longer works. If i try to add one using the screenshot method attached, the Inventor Material Library simply gets a lock like the other two libraries and nothing is added. when i close the appearance browser and open it again, the lock is removed and i can try again. Same result though. 

I could even copy the Inventor 2022 library file "InventorMaterialLibrary.adsklib" and the behavior would work as expected. I would continue doing the same, except i had to reinstall my autodesk products and now i no longer have the 2022 file. Any idea why that would happen? 

Jared

[Gabriel_Watson]

Check if your InventorMaterialLibrary.adsklib is read-only or not (under properties in Windows Explorer). Also check under Get Started (tab) > Projects > select your project and see if your style library is Read-Write, if not, right-click and switch to that:

[jwmb224]

Hey Bane,

   Thanks for dropping by. Your reply had me momentarily hopeful, cause the project was set to read-only for the appearance library. However, changing he setting didn't change the behavior, for some reason. here are the details to be sure:

Libarary File Properties under C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2023\Design Data\Materials\InventorMaterialLibrary.adsklib

Project settings you referred me to:

video of the attempted operation attached. (excuse the atrocious quality; i had to make it uploadable):

[Gabriel_Watson]

Try switching to "Default" project in Inventor and adding again.

[jwmb224]

the default project is at "read-only" for the library, and Inventor doesn't let me make any changes to the default project:

and i checked, the file is not marked as read-only in windows explorer. 

Jared

[Gabriel_Watson]

It's strange, as it allows me here to edit using the Default project, and not even changing the project to read-write... it's fine as read only.
Do you have local disk permissions to modify the library where it currently sits at? In case your InventorMaterialLibrary.adsklib being used by your project is in program files and you cannot modify it there.

[jwmb224]

no, when i mouse over the library in project editor, it says it's under public documents:

and, what's more interesting, when i copied the 2022 library in and replaced this 2023 version, it worked fine. but alas, i lost my 2022 library. 

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! It is possible the .adsklib file is corrupted. The behavior does not sound right. What if you create a new custom library? Does it work?

Many thanks!

[jwmb224]

hello,

   if the file is corrupted, it's corrupted in the installer; this is the second install i've made with this download. strange..

   for creating a library, it seems i can create on almost anywhere except in the Public Documents folder. If i try to create one in the Public Documents folder, this is the result:

as i mentioned before though, i COULD copy my 2022 library to the Public Documents folder and make changes to it as needed. 

Jared

[ChrisMitchell01]

Editing Material/Appearance libraries doesn't need you to change any project settings. Edit rights is simply controlled by your windows OS access rights. While you are editing/saving to the library it will be write locked to prevent others on the network overwriting your edits (in the event that the adsklib file is being shared). Try going to the C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2023 folder & right click that & change permissions so that your account has Full control & apply that to all files/folders below.

Also you shouldn't copy the as shipped library adsklib files & try to load the copy as well as the original at the same time since that will lead to other confusions, (since a lot of the material/appearance management is based on GUID's which will be duplicated by using a file copy). It's better to create your own custom library through the Inventor UI & then add that library to your project definition & then always save your custom materials/appearance to that. Then each time you do an upgrade you just move that adsklib file forward  along with any other custom styles/standards & simply reference the Inventor library that comes with the install.

Hope this helps,
Chris

[jwmb224]

Hey There Chris,

   I have changed the windows permissions to the following, but i'm still experiencing the same behavior:

My account, Jared Waldner, has full control on the file as well as the directory. 

I only copied the previous year library to test it. as part of the test, i removed the existing library. I am starting to think the file is indeed corrupted. would a replacement be a possibility? 

Jared

[ChrisMitchell01]

OK - Here's a zip file which contains the entire contents of the Materials folder from C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2023\Design Data

I can edit it without issue on my installation.

Hope it helps,
Chris

[jwmb224]

jeepers. no joy. i literally added Full Control permissions on the entire directory for the "everyone" user group in windows. and i've tried running Inventor as Administrator. i'm stuck. I've noticed that Inventor cannot create a new library in random areas of the system, including the "My Documents" folder, showing the below error. does that make any sense? 

i'm trying to create a library, not open one :@

[ChrisMitchell01]

No - I'm not aware of any issues relating to this.

What version of windows are you running ? (Type winver in a command prompt to see this). Are all updates installed? Are you using Inventor 2023 or 2023.0.1?

Are you using any sort of roaming/remote profile configuration where the data is actually stored on a different server? If you try to create a new library in say C:\temp\Materials does it work ok?

Thanks

Chris

[jwmb224]

hey chris,

   found the problem. it was...ummm....malware. this is embarassing......🙈

   in any event, thanks for helping me rule out inventor being an issue. definitely speed up troubleshooting process.

Jared

[ChrisMitchell01]

Ok Thanks for confirming, Jared.

Hope you manage to get that resolved. Interesting that it was causing issues with this particular workflow…

Cheers

Chris