Help understanding Error Message

[rlee]

Hello, about 3 weeks ago we started getting an error message (Below) after updating to Inventor 2020.1. We are using Vault 2020.1 as well. However the error message can appear in newer Vault projects, old non- Vault legacy projects, and sometimes appears if you start a brand new assembly file and a place anything into it. Once the error appears you are stuck with it popping up every single time you place anything from the content center both standard parts such as an elbow and custom length parts such as pipe or beam. You can make the error go away for 1-2 days by copy/pasting the assembly, deleting the old assembly, and then renaming the copied assembly to the original file name. But after a day or two it comes right back. We have been working with our re-seller and support staff and they even logged in an Autodesk employee to watch it happen on my machine and took a copy of the files and can confirm they can reproduce it, but so far there has been no resolution. So I'm reaching out to see if anyone has any thoughts or has ever dealt with this one before. When you right click to stop placing a part from the content center it pops up and reads the below. Keep in mind it is also custom parts like a pipe that is 12.5481" long that have never existed before as well...

"You made changes to one or more of the files to be refreshed. If you proceed with the refresh, your edits to these files will be lost. If you wish to save your changes first, you must cancel the refresh, use Save Copy As to save the changes, and then explicitly re-run the refresh command. Do you want to cancel the refresh command now and have a window opened on each of these files so you can manually choose to Save Copy As on those you wish to save?"

So that's it. If you hit yes it places the part like nothing happened and no new windows pop like it says it's going to do. If you hit no, then the part is not placed and nothing at all happens.

Thanks,

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! If I understood the behavior correctly, the error message merely indicated that you had a newer version of the files on disc than the files you were editing (in the memory). This can happen when you did not check out the file and you simply change the readonly file to writable. You proceed with editing. While you are still editing it, you try pulling (get) the same file from Vault (or simply copy and paste from somewhere).

From Windows' perspective, this is totally legitimate operation. But, from CAD data management perspective, this is like overriding the file management system. If you use an EDM system like Vault, you should always honor Check-In/Check-Out process, allowing the system to do the job. Any attempt to override the workflow will create confusion.

Many thanks!

[rlee]

Thank You, we may be onto something now. That exact process may have happened. We had a part not in the Content Center but in our parts library as an assembly which is mapped as a library that we had to change the length of a component on. I tried deleting EVERYTHING in the assembly and placing a part and still got the error so I think these files that have it popping up are now corrupted.

Since we are newer to Vault let me please ask a follow up question, If this part is in a library location then it can not be edited or checked out through Vault correct? As it will always view that location as read-only. So what we did was created a non-Vault .ipj file with the library set as the workspace so that we can go in and modify them if needed. This does however require turning off the read-only check box that Vault checks in Windows which seems to be the culprit. So, if I need to shorten something in a Library assembly model what is the best way to do so if Vault will not let you check in/out library components?

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Yes, if a file is stored in a library folder (defined in the project file setting), it cannot be edited (with or without Vault) when the given project is active. Since you are using Vault, my suggestion is that you should create a separate library editing Vault project. For this project, you will make the Library folders as the workspace so you can edit them.

You should not create a non-Vault project to edit the Library files. It will be confusing. You will not be able to check in the files back to Vault properly.

Many thanks!