Sharing projects

[jmenier]

My coworkers are all starting to use inventor now, and I am having a challenging time sharing projects with them. All are on Inventor 2016, I am using 2016 professional

Ill start with a little description of my procedure to share projects, We are not all at the same physical location but we are linked via a shared server, so currently if we want to work on the same project, we open a file explorer, copy the entire folder of the project and drop it to the shared drive location. When the person receiving the folder wants to use it they point their inventor project browser to the shared drive location, and add the project. This works kinda "OK" but anytime someone uses something from the content center, the individual who wants to open the project needs to re-routed all the parts or else it creates an error.

There has to be a better way, please help. I have never used vault before, is this possibly what it is for? 

Thanks,

Josh M

[mercerc]

Hi Josh,

This is more a two part question. 

The first would be the shared project. Without getting to far into your configuration you explained on of the reasons for using Vault. I would suggest you contact your Local Reseller and ask if they have had vault installation experience. If so I would engage in a dissucion with them on whether vault is a good solution for you.

The second question is on your Content Center. This is a more common question then you think. By default we save the CC (Content Center) components on your local drive under a directory that also has the version number of Inventor included in it. When sharing an assembly or projects other users can't see your CC components. To eliminate this you mentioned you have a common server that you all use. I would suggest you create a set of folders that everyone can see. The top level would be something like Inventor Libraries, under it one that is name Content Center Files. Once that is done you can edit your project file under Folder Options change the default (this overides the application options) to point to the new location. Now all new CC component created will go to a common folder for everyone. 

The next question is what about existing CC components. You can copy those from your local drives to the shared location. This is a small issue with that. Now who ever opens the assembly file using CC that were local will need to resolve the links to the new location. Once this is done for each assembly and the file is saved. You will not be asked to resolve them ever again. 

I've used a version of this for years now and it's worked out.

[jmenier]

Thanks for the reply, to build on our situation, we sometimes take our laptops to remote locations and aren't able to connect to our network or to the internet at all. Would this configuration work? And I don't know if its my imagination or something else but larger assemblies and drawings seem to lag when they are worked on via network, so it has been our experience to copy the project folder off the network and place it on our hard drive, then when finished reupload it to the drive. Sorry if that wasn't clear on my first post.

Secondly would using pack-and-go be a viable solution? Can you do this with an entire project folder?

thanks again

[Anonymous]

you NEED vault. I am a single user of Inventor and I can't even comprehend using the program without Vault. When it comes to sharing any Inventor files with coworkers, you NEED vault. It is definitely the solution.

[jmenier]

That's so bizarre that you say that. I was until recently a single user, and can't even comprehend what it is used for.

Can you briefly explain what/how you use vault?

[Anonymous]

Really? Well basically the vault is tool that keeps track of all of your Inventor files and how they interact with eachother. It basically replaces Windows Explorer for Inventor in a MUCH more intelligent way.
Before I had the vault all I did to wreck everything was change a folder name in windows explorer but that was enough to break all the links and it ruined everything. I was told that you could avoid using the vault if you were smart about the way you organized your files, but personally I really didn't want to have to worry about it.
When it comes to sharing with coworkers, the vault allows you to "Check Out" the files so that only you can work on them which prevents files from being overwritten with old versions and ruining all of your work.

Also, Im assuming since you have Inventor, you purchased a suite which means you already have Vault. It is difficult to set up though so I highly recommend you pay your reseller the $800 to set it up and show you how it works.
I hope this helps!

[mercerc]

To answer your questions.

We sometimes take our laptops to remote locations and aren't able to connect to our network or to the internet at all. Would this configuration work? Yes it will you can either just do a copy from vault if you just need the files or you can do a copy from vault and check them out if you need to make changes to the file out of the office. Once you’re reconnected to your network you can check the file back into Vault.

But larger assemblies and drawings seem to lag when they are worked on via network, so it has been our experience to copy the project folder off the network and place it on our hard drive, then when finished reupload it to the drive. This is a common issue with work over a network and we don’t recommend doing so. Vault (depending on how it set up) would have a workspace on your local machine and you would work on the files from there. You only use the network to check the files back in at the end of day. You may have a question of what about other users that need the files or to edit them. You would only check out (which locks the file to everyone else) files you need to edit this way they are available to everyone else to edit if needed.

 Would using Pack-and-go be a viable solution? Can you do this with an entire project folder? Yes within Vault you have a Pack & Go option also.