Cannot find template

[newcomer]

First, thanks to everyone who replied to my last post.  I am just sitting down at the computer to start looking at those answers in detail.  Meanwhile, I have another question, which is probably the result of horrible laziness on the part of some programmer.

I select "Export face as", and get told that it cannot find the .dwg template and I should check the path and try again.

A bit of exploration of the documentation and the Inventor options reveals that the documentation is horrendously obsolete, and therefore largely misleading.  However, when I checked the options in Inventor, it told me that the template path was

%PUBLICDOCUMENTS%\Autodesk\Inventor 2014\Templates\

A bit more exploration (since I typically use mm units) allowed me to write a new default template file.  I did this because the standard default file is English and I use metric.  That had no effect on the error condition. 

It is not clear what %PUBLICDOCUMENTS% means on my machine (the %...% means that this is the name of an environment variable which gets expanded, but, alas, without seeing the expansion, I have no idea what it is, because in a standard command shell this environment variable is not defined.  Hence the need to implement all such error messages in a useful fashion, which I describe below.  I suspect that this environment variable is set by the C "setenv" or the Windows "SetEnvironmentVariable" calls and is only valid in the program for the duration of the execution of the program.  The ExpandEnvironmentStrings API call is used to expand these by replacing the %name% by its value.

In a sane world where programmers understood users, the message would not say something mysterious about the template file, but would name the EXACT FILE PATH that was being used.  This would be incredibly useful, as it would probably enable me to discover the error and fix it.  At the very least, that second-level item should be expandable and the next lower node would be the EXACT filename it was looking for.

I was a software developer for 50+ years, and one thing I practiced, and demanded, was that there are no secret file names, and every error message be correctly presented.

Instead of

=========

Open error

=========

I would always convert the error string to text and issue something like

========================================

Open Error

Access Denied

File "q:\here\and\there\and\somewhere\else.txt"

========================================

among other notable advantages of this latter technique is the fact that a huge number of "tech support" issues can be solved by the end user!

So if I knew what file it was looking for, and precisely where it was looking for it, and I had a problem, I could verify what had gone wrong and gave me that error.  In the absence of the information, and any documentation that might lead me to the correct information, I can only say "Duh!" and ask for help.

(I may be a newbie at Inventor, but I have a half-century of experience writing programs to interface to users, and half of that, 25 years, was in Microsoft Windows.  I used to teach courses on this)

 So, what's really wrong and how do I fix it?

     joe

[SBix26 · Accepted solution]

%PUBLICDOCUMENTS% is C:\Users\Public\Public Documents.  The folder indicated in the error message should contain a template named Standard.dwg.

You didn't need to "write a new default template file"-- all you need to do is open Application Options and under the File tab click on the Configure Default Template... button.  Here you can select which standard you are using, and the appropriate templates will be placed in the Templates folder and named Standard.xxx

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2016 Update 2
Vault Basic 2016
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1

[newcomer]

When I said that I wrote a new default template file, I did it by the method you described, and it did not change the misbehavior.  I still got the same error.

      joe

[newcomer]

Attached is the directory listing showing that the files exist in the place expected.  The path I posted in the original message was a copy-and-paste from the options dialog. 

    joe

[SBix26]

Next thing to check, then, is your active project.  Project files (.ipj) can re-define the Templates folder, overriding the default path that you gave in your first post.  Open the Projects Editor, make sure that your active project (the one with the check mark) is selected in the upper pane, then expand the Folder Options in the lower pane.  The Templates entry will either be [Default] or a specific path different from the default.  

If it's not the default, then that's where Inventor is looking for the Standard.dwg template when this project is active.  If it is using the default location, then I'm out of ideas.

Sam B

Inventor Professional 2016 Update 2
Vault Basic 2016
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, SP1

[newcomer]

I have no project file, so it can't be overriding anything.

     joe

[Mark.Lancaster]

Yes you are using a project file.  Make sure everything is closed out of Inventor and select Project as seen in this image.   Expand folder options and see what your settings are

[Sohrabm]

When I click new I get this image and no choice of (sheet metal, parts, assembly, title block,,,etc).

Don't know what is going on? I am using Inventor 2021.

Any idea/ help?

[andrewiv]

There are no templates in the default location.  Do you want to use the default location or should it be pointing to a different location for the templates?

[Sohrabm]

From what I remember the templates I used were in the default location.

Still when I search it in this link: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Autodesk\Inventor 2021\Templates, I don't see any templates, it is completely empty.

[andrewiv]

Did you just install 2021?  Are there any templates in the 2020 (or whatever version you used previously) folder?

[Sohrabm]

I installed Inventor 2021 two months ago and back then I had no problem with it. Before that I used Inventor 2020, and again no issues/ problem. Right now even when I open Inventor 2020, I have the same issue/ problem with that version too! (No templates)

[andrewiv]

Are you a single user or do you work with a team?  Is there a CAD admin that can restore your templates or point you to a different location where they are stored?  If no, can you restore the templates from a backup?

I also vaguely remember that doing a repair or reinstall will restore the templates since they are part of the original installation, but don't quote me on that.  My company uses templates stored out on a network drive.

[Sohrabm]

Thanks for your input, I guess I must search the internet for a (migrate) template if I can find one.

No we don't have any CAD IT, we just do the search ourselves.

[andrewiv]

If you have colleagues that don't have this problem, you can copy the templates from their hard drive or check their template file paths to verify that yours is correct.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Starting from Inventor 2020, the default templates are stored one subfolder under \Design Data\Templates. If you click on "en-US", you should see the templates. If not, you can easily generate a new set. Go to Tools -> App Options -> Files -> Configure Default Templates -> select the standard and unit.

Many thanks!

[FDressel]

I am still having this problem and hoping someone sees what I'm missing.  I can create a new drawing with the dwg standard template is an option in "Create New File."  It will save the drawing I create as a dwg just fine.  However, when I go File, save copy as, and select the dxf file format, I get the error, "Could not open the DWG template file.  Please check the path and try again."  I've check and the standard DWG template is in the template folder.

Thanks