Show file attachments from items

[DavidWarta]

In our company we are trying to move our workflow more to vault. 

One of the steps I'm currently looking at is sending out documentation to third parties. This includes pdf and stp files and a list with document numbers and revisions.

So currently we have a file lifecycle and a job processor that creates an pdf, the stp is created manually. Both the pdf and stp files are stored on a network location together with a transmittal report (list of files with revisions and if needed some comments).

If I look at managing this in vault I think the best way is to use items. But I run into the following. If I create pdfs and do not attach them to the parent file they do not show up when I pack and go the item (they need to be manually added to the item). If I do attach them to the parent file they do show up without the need to manually adding them to the item. However from the item I do not see these files, I need to go to the file and open de uses tab and expand the view to show attachments.

How do others share documents (only pdf and stp) from vault with third parties for a (part of) machine?

[Gabriel_Watson]

The first method I worked with was before Vault had PDF and STP export out-of-the-box, but the plugin worked similarly to what is available now. Procurement/buyers would make a "shopping list" of files they needed PDFs, DWFs, and STPs for. Not all suppliers would need STP format for, say, laser cutting, etc., but more and more asked for it instead of the DWFs we used to send as default.
For DWFs, it was a matter of selecting design files (IDW, DWG, IPT, IAM) to Copy then "Paste as Link" those into a Vault folder for procurement, specific to the current task/package. Later selecting all shortcuts in that folder to Send > Send File. If they were released they should have a visualization/DWF, and those would all appear then in an e-mail draft you could copy attachments from.
For PDFs the same files would be selected and right-click > generate PDF via the plugin. The Job Processor would create those unattached to any files, so the buyer would search with a filter for PDFs within a project folder structure. If you have it organized well, it's easy to isolate all PDFs within a module/unit/etc.
For STPs we initially relied on designers exporting those, then the plugin was expanded to act similarly to PDFs above, as more and more were requested.

Another company used to send these PDFs and/or STPs to the ACC / BIM360 folder for the project exports upon release. We had the Vault functionality create those on lifecycle change, then the method we found best was to use the Vault Cloud Collaboration/Sync tools to filter and send out only PDFs and STPs from a given project folder. https://help.autodesk.com/view/VAULT/2023/ENU/?guid=GUID-AA285C68-B867-4B3E-8C32-D7D705CA1460

Bottom line is: I think including Items in Vault just for this sort of management is overlooking better workarounds, and increasing your Vault complexity 10x for little gain.