Hi, Here are some best practices regarding the Upchain home folder and project folders for Inventor. Let me know if this information is helpful? Please note that 'Upchain Home Folder' , 'Inventor Pack and Go' and 'Inventor Project Files' sections below may help assist in the overall answer to your question as all three of these contribute to best management practices with Inventor files for the Autodesk Upchain application.
Upchain Home Folder
The first time you login to the Upchain CAD plugin a folder will be created on your local drive in the C:/home/’Upchain login email’ location. This folder is where all CAD files you upload to and download from Upchain will be managed.
Inventor Pack and Go
The Pack and Go function in Inventor is used to package all the relevant files for a given design into a single folder location in a complete dataset with all referenced files. Using Inventor Pack and Go to move all relevant files for a CAD assembly into the Upchain Home Folder before attempting to upload the assembly to Upchain will ensure many of the conditions the CAD plugin checks for are met. As you move more of your CAD data into Upchain there are other benefits to taking this step we will mention a little bit later. Follow the steps below for each CAD assembly you wish to Pack and Go to your home folder:
- Navigate to the assembly you wish to upload to Upchain in Window’s explorer. In most cases you should select the top level assembly of your design.
- Right click the assembly (.iam file) and select “Pack and Go”
- The Inventor Pack and Go window will open
- Select the location of your home folder for “Destination Folder”
- Select the following options: (would like to validate with product) > Copy to Single Path > Include Linked Files
- Under “Find Reference Files” select Search Now. Any part or assembly files should appear in the bottom window.
- Under “Search for referencing files” select Search Now. Any drawings or other referenced files should be added to the list in the bottom window.
- When ready select “Start” to begin the Pack and Go.
- If you receive a window that says “Confirm file replacement” you will more than likely want to select “No”. Please see ______ section for more information.
- Once complete the Pack and Go window should look something like this and the assembly and associated files will be moved to your Upchain Home Folder.
Now that we’ve moved the CAD files to your home folder we can open the assembly in Inventor to complete the pre-upload preparations. Navigate to your home folder and double click on the assembly file we just moved there. You should now have the model open in Inventor where you can validate the following prior to initiating the “Create Item” process in the Upchain plugin. Review each of the following:
Inventor Project File Settings
Creating a project file to manage your CAD in Upchain
- Select the Projects tab in the “Getting Started” ribbon in Inventor
- Select “New” in the Projects window to start the Inventor project wizard
- Name your project Upchain and select your Upchain home folder as the workspace folder
- Always use this project when working in Inventor on data in Upchain or with data that you intend to upload to Upchain. Since this project is referencing the Upchain Home folder it is best practice to also have the files you are working on located in the home folder. Refer to “Pack and Go to the Upchain Home folder” section on recommended approach for moving files to Home folder currently stored in another location.
Hope this information is helpful. Please let me know and thanks. Tommy Holt | Upchain Customer Success Manager
