When to use local styles in templates vs global style library

[ccarriereEZDS7]

I have been reading about this issue extensively on this forum, but I can't find a clear answer about when it's better to use a locally defined style in a template vs a style from the global style library.  Here's my issue: we have different clients with different drawing templates, but some of the layer names are the same (such as layers named "TEXT" or "DIMENSION") even though the layers are set up differently.  It is my understanding that a style library cannot contain the information required to define those layers differently for different templates.  Therefore, I will need to define those layers locally in the different templates and not have them reference the global style library.  Am I correct in this understanding? 

[mcgyvr]

You can have different standards/styles and have different templates referencing those different standards.

"Local" allows you to make changes only for a specific file and not effect everything else. 

The second a drawing is created any styles/standards are essentially pushed locally in that drawing.. Changes to your style library ONLY effect existing files when you tell that drawing to update the styles at which time it will compare the local with the library and let you know whats out of sync. You can also push local changes back to your style library but again you would need to update each existing file to retrieve those changes you just pushed to the library.

[ccarriereEZDS7]

The issue I'm having is when I create a new drawing with a template.  It tells me the style library is out of sync and that it will use the style library definitions.  I can't just update the style library with the layer definitions from the current template, because then I will get that same error when I create a new drawing with a different template that has the same layer names (where the layers are defined differently for a different client).   Is there any workaround, or will I just have to keep the layer definitions local?

[swalton]

Are you using different project files for each client? If so, you can have a different style library and template set for each project file you use.

Otherwise you might need to rename layers for each client.

[ccarriereEZDS7]

Thanks, that's a good reminder.  We have multiple users accessing these templates, so I think in this case the risk of using global style libraries that are connected to project files (which some users forget to create) outweighs the benefits of using global style libraries.

From what I can see, the main benefit of using a global style library for drawing templates is that when changes are made to a style, the templates can be updated by clicking "Update Styles."  However, the method of Exporting and Importing styles from one file to another seems almost as easy, without the risk of using the wrong style library or having the template styles and global style library out of sync.

But I'm open to hearing ideas of why it would be beneficial to try to keep global style libraries...

[mcgyvr]

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@ccarriereEZDS7 wrote:

The issue I'm having is when I create a new drawing with a template.  It tells me the style library is out of sync and that it will use the style library definitions. 

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Then your local styles aren't in sync with the current standard/object defaults,etc... its checking against..

BUT...

If you setup a new "Standard", a new "Object Defaults" and a new "Layer" 

AND then set the new template (tools..document settings..standard tab) to that new standard correctly you shouldn't have any errors..

There isn't a need to have separate projects either.. You could have a template for each client or simply edit the active standard as needed to swap between object/layer/whatever standards/styles.

Here is showing one standard with a test object defaults and linear dimensions being on dimension 2 layer.. and another with a different active object default and the linear dimensions are on dimension layer (not dimension 2)..

Then I can have 2 different templates and one uses "Test Main Standard" and the other uses "Default Standard (ANSI)" and my layers are as expected and I don't get any errors when creating a new drawing.. 

[Gabriel_Watson]

We keep global styles that can be saved to the individual drawings as needed, and for each customer we have a folder with their different template drawing sheet sizes, which in turn have a set local style matching one of the global styles.

You will rarely want a style on a drawing template that is only local to that file and does not have a matching copy in your global styles.

The reason is, things get confusing once the customer issues an update (and a certain "General" company does that a lot) to their drawing specifications, and you have to change the style associated to that. What if you had other unit/tool drawings from older projects that you plan on copying (and tweaking) into the next project? You would not be warned about how those are now legacy/obsolete in style.... so by having Inventor compare your customer style from the customer template and its mirror/reference in the global styles you are reminded that something needs to be updated.

[ccarriereEZDS7]

Thanks for your help!  The only problem is that I would need to use the same layer name in two different templates, even though the layers are set up differently.  For example, Company1 has a template with a layer "TEXT" that is yellow and uses Tahoma font and Company2 has a template with a layer "TEXT" that is green and uses Arial font. I don't feel like I can ask the client to change their layer names, so I feel like the best solution is to keep the styles local.

[ccarriereEZDS7]

Thanks for the input!  If you have multiple global styles in multiple folders, how to do you make sure that users are using the correct global style when creating a new file from a template?

[Gabriel_Watson]

The templates will all have an "Active Standard" already pre-selected when you create/save them, so the users creating new files from them have that auto-selected. Even if they contain a whole list of other styles locally (which they don't need to have, if you carry those in the global styles), the one active is the one to rule:

Now, if you start thinking about other styles outside of drawings, for parts and such... then you have a possible reason to branch out with two Design Data (Styles) folders, if you have reason for such. For example, different material types for different regions, or if you really wish to keep thread callouts of the same type described differently, etc. One example I can give is how the same project file can be set so the user can pick which material ADSK library file to read from:

[mcgyvr]

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@ccarriereEZDS7 wrote:

Thanks for your help!  The only problem is that I would need to use the same layer name in two different templates, even though the layers are set up differently. 

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Gotcha.. I often forget how **** companies can be about that kind of stuff.

I wonder if they would be ok with 

Dimension (Company A)

But yes.. to have duplicate layer names (but differences in the style) you will need to use different project files/style libraries. Not a big deal.

[ccarriereEZDS7]

Thanks for all the responses!  From what I'm hearing, I would need to have a different style library set up for each client, and I would need to make sure a project file that is pointing to the correct style library is set up for each new project.  (Each client can have multiple projects, so it's not as simple as creating a project file for each client.)

Now I have to decide if that's something we want to try to incorporate.  We have multiple users creating drawings for multiple clients, and I want to make our setup as robust as possible.  If for some reason a user forgets to set up a project file, or creates a project file that is pointing to the wrong style library, there could still be issues with the layers coming in incorrectly when a user creates a new drawing from a template.  If Inventor allowed the user to select whether the template styles or style library styles will be used on a new drawing, we wouldn't be having this issue.

[Gabriel_Watson]

One style library can take many client Standards. One thing is the Style as in whole library of standards a file holds, and the other is the individual Standard within.

Sorry if we were confusing to explain this before, maybe using the word "styles" too loosely.

You can swap standards within the same file (local styles filter) or between all available standards in the style library ("all styles" filter, which includes local plus the ones read from your central design data folder read by a project... or multiple projects).

All I was saying is that you should be able to SET the ACTIVE STANDARD on a customer template to automatically pick the same customer's standard from the styles available. That way you can set multiple clients in your whole style library and each individual template will carry a copy of it for the specific customer.

[ccarriereEZDS7]

The problem is that even though multiple styles can be set up in a single style library, only one definition of a layer called "TEXT" can exist.  So if multiple clients use that layer with different formatting, I would need to create a whole new style library in a new folder for each client in order to have each client's layer "TEXT" set up correctly.  

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! I see the issue now. This is actually irrelevant to local styles vs library styles. It is about style naming. You would like to have two styles named the same but have different option sets. Unfortunately, this will not work. It will be very confusing regardless. You could set up two different libraries in order to have two layers named the same but behaved differently. However, nothing prevents the file from being opened with the wrong library. The conflict message may not pop up. But, inconsistency still exists. When there is a need to edit the style, you may end up with something hard to understand.

It is better to keep things unique. Inventor is a file-based CAD system. A file needs to have a unique name.

Many thanks!

[ccarriereEZDS7]

Thanks for your reply.  Since it is impossible for our company to have unique layer names between clients (we have many clients who use the same layer names, each with a different setup), we cannot reference a global style library - all our styles will need to be contained within the templates only.

For anyone interested, this link from Autodesk University describes how to accomplish this.  See pages 19-24 of the handout: https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Inventor-Basics-Series-Taking-Control-Your-Styles...