Get all working folders option

[Rob.O]

Would love to see a "Get All Working Folders" option.  I know you can have the working folder created using "Go to Working Folder" by right-clicking on the desired folder, but this is cumbersome if you have as many folders as we do in our projects.

I request this becasue our working folders are on our local drives rather than a server.  I don't want the users trying to manually create the folders when they are creating new files as something is always typed in incorrectly.  If they could simply right-click and Get all Working folders, problem solved! 🙂

[TYoung_Combi]

Yes. That is just one example; there are numerous others. It may boil down to the fact that when this company started using Vault they didn't take advantage of the software reseller providing some good workflow practices, and now it's so ingrained that it would be a nightmare to change. I would also believe that there are many companies who are in the same predicament, hence the fact that it would be nice to be able to mimic the entire Vault folder structure outside of performing a 'get'.

Also; we seem to regularly deal with an issue in which deleting the local working folder seems to be the only way to solve the problem, but that is a whole other issue. But in deleting the local working folder, you can see where it would be beneficial to be able to mimic the Vault folder structure with a click.

[RobJV]

This is needed.  I believe some autodesk employees have even written apps for this in the past- not sure if they still work on present version.  We use "frequently used subfolders" in our vault project file. 

When installing vault on new computers or when new employees start, that part of the "open" or "save" dialog box is blank because those folders do not exist locally.  We would also like an app that quickly just copies the folder structure from the vault to local drive so we can see those folders in these dialog boxes.  Any update on this?  I thought this feature actually existed in the early days of vault?

[saainsworth]

This is a request from some our users as well.  We have a predefined folder structure that we use for each of our client projects.  In this way you go into a project and have a hope of finding the information you want.  Some of our users (mostly project managers) are working in many of the folders.  They find it convenient to get the entire folder structure to their working directory.  In this way they can easily place new files where they belong.

Nu Pi folders in the Autodesk App store has the functionality.  You can right click and get folder you looking at and all subfolders.  Some of our users find it very helpful.

[Anonymous]

I would love to see this as a Vault Admin option that can be pushed to all users.  We have a vendor library within the workspace that can be used/edited/added to by users.  I find that multiple folders of the same vendor (different spelling) are being added to vault only because the user didnt check to see if it already exists in Vault.  I spend hours each month just performing cleanup work.  The ability to have replicated vault folder structure, without files, onto the users computer would fix this and many more issues.  Please make this a feature.

[Anonymous]

Any luck with this?

[davis.j]

This would be very useful especially for clients that have laptops and want to keep their hardrive lean while placing things in the correct folders.

[rwingard]

Can confirm. My boss just had me sit down for the past few days and do a full Vault reorganization. I have moved a lot of files around and am now looking to do this exact thing. If the folder structure is there on our computers, even if there are no files in it, we will still at least know where to save it to and not accidently create extra folders in spots that already existed on the fault by accidently misspelling it or by capitalizing it... or not... or any other list of things. Plus workspace sync really doesn't do the trick in this case as, it does download the folder structure, but it also downloads all the models on the Vault as well... something that takes a huge amount of time, and my hard drive is physically incapable of holding anyways.

Something as simple as right clicking on "Designs" or anything else in the Vault and just having a button labeled "Get Folder Structure" or something like that would be a fantastic feature.

[davis.j]

Currently I use the iLogic method listed here (Inventor):
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/vault-forum/vault-folder-structure-sync/m-p/10090132/highlight/true#M...
*Just change your workspace location in the code*

[DANIEL.DELANEY]

For some reason, I have never realised it was not possible to 'get' a folder structure until today. Then found this thread. Have upvoted. Vault needs this.

[nannerdw]

Until this gets implemented, one workaround is to add placeholder text files to any empty leaf folders in the tree.
The placeholder files are necessary when sharing a complete "Design Data" folder from Vault, since Inventor requires those empty folders to be present.

[josh.nieman]

I came upon this when searching for how to "get folders only" in Vault, myself.  I assumed it was a trivial task already built in because my use-context had me in a mindset where "of course" people would've already wanted this and pushed for it to be implemented.

I think the main philosophy is that we want to be able to sync automatically and "push" info to users rather than rely on them to "pull" info.  By getting folders in vault sync'd to workspace, it's an extremely low-resource operation users can perform (or we can automate/schedule) that is unobtrusive to both the user and the hardware involved in making it happen.  Doing so with design-models is obviously not so. 

By having info automatically 'pushed' to them, it means they no longer have to just know to "go looking for it" in Vault.  It's a safer practice of "hey, things changed" at a folder-structure level.

Here's a couple use-case examples:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:  It can simply help keep people connected/aware and thus collaborate better and more reliably.

We use folder structure SORT of like meta-data, in that the folder path "tells us" things.  Example folder structure may be: <workspace>/<customer>/<project-name>/ and in this 'Project Name' folder could be a folder for each design such as:
/<design01>/
/<design02>/
/<design03>/
If you've been working on <design02> for days/weeks/months and one day you notice there is a new <design03> (or design04..design99) you have an indication that communication/collaboration/<action> is required. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2:  It would allow us to more efficiently navigate between Inventor (any CAD) and Vault.

"Go to Vault Folder" functions are pretty rad.  Just having the empty folders there would give us an object that flags the user "something is there" as well as an object with properties (path info, or just the ability to have a right-click menu interaction)  that can be used to navigate QUICKLY to that place in Vault to 'get' (or investigate) things as needed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@JamesLodge01 Thanks for creating this idea.  I hope support grows and it happens.

@olegd.prod I hope that clarifies intentions, desires, and added to the conversation.

@ihayesjr Thanks, also, for keeping the statuses updated: hopefully this continues to gather support and sees action.

[alfaclaus]

Is there any news reg. this topic after 3-4yr was requested? This is really needed! 

[JamesLodge01]

Wow. After promoting the request of this functionality for the last 5 years the request has been merged with another idea apparently created in 2013. What a long standing tease. Well done @Rob.O,  I guess you get the credit sir 🙂

[aksel_haeldermans]

We just drag and drop the root folder from Vault to Windows.

It rebuilds the empty folder structure.

[davis.j]

@aksel_haeldermans  It does, but it also grab all of the files too which could take a lot of time. The user may not want to grab all of their workspace files to have on their local machine.

[DANIEL.DELANEY]

Maybe use iLogic? Not sure I understand what OP wants exactly, but if the subfolder structure for a job & any reference folder locations are always the same, then you could just write a Rule to create the required working folders. This would mean a designer can run the Rule to create all required folders, instead of manually creating, which would fix any opportunity for mix-ups in spelling/location etc. Wrong part of the forums I know, but I've stuck an example below, which I use when I start a new DWG, or open an exiting DWG. You'd have to adapt the script to add/write any other reference folders you require:

' Run Rule will automatically create the required subfolders based on the DWG # you have open. Default folder E:\Vault\ABC\Generation\(Site)\Mechanical\(Drawing #)\ 
' Folders it will create are:
' (DRAWING #)
'         >01. INVENTOR
'         >02. BOMS
'         >03. PDFS
'         >04. ENGINEERING
'         >05. TECH. DOCS
'         >06. ESTIMATION
'         >07. OTHER
' Don't forget To CHECK IN. - DD

'get the full file name of the this document
Dim folderpath As String = ThisDoc.PathAndFileName(False)

'split the full file name to get folder names
Dim folders As String() = folderpath.Split("\")

'get the data you are looking for.
'Pay attention that ilogic start counting by 0
'E:/Vault/ABC/Generation/Site/Mechanical
'0  1     2        3        4          5          
Dim Drive As String = folders(0)
Dim Vault As String = folders(1)
Dim ABC As String = folders(2)
Dim Generation As String = folders(3)
Dim Site As String = folders(4)
Dim Mech As String = folders(5)

'Ignore this, its just a double check.
iProperties.Value("Custom", "TEST") = Drive & "\" & Vault & "\" & ABC & "\" & Generation & "\" & Site & "\" & Mech

FolderNumber = iProperties.Value("Custom", "ABC_DRAWING_NUMBER") 
ColonIndex = FolderNumber.LastIndexOf("-")
FolderNumberOnly = FolderNumber.Substring(0, ColonIndex)

Dim Fpath = Drive & "\" & Vault & "\" & ABC & "\" & Generation & "\" & Site & "\" & Mech

Dim oDesiredFolder As String = Fpath & "\" & FolderNumberOnly
If Not System.IO.Directory.Exists(oDesiredFolder) Then
    System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(oDesiredFolder)
End If

Dim oDesiredFolder1 As String = Fpath & "\" & FolderNumberOnly & "\" & "01. INVENTOR"
If Not System.IO.Directory.Exists(oDesiredFolder1) Then
    System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(oDesiredFolder1)
	
End If

Dim oDesiredFolder2 As String = Fpath & "\" & FolderNumberOnly & "\" & "02. BOMS"
If Not System.IO.Directory.Exists(oDesiredFolder2) Then
    System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(oDesiredFolder2)
	
End If

Dim oDesiredFolder3 As String = Fpath & "\" & FolderNumberOnly & "\" & "03. PDFS"
If Not System.IO.Directory.Exists(oDesiredFolder3) Then
    System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(oDesiredFolder3)

End If

Dim oDesiredFolder4 As String = Fpath & "\" & FolderNumberOnly & "\" & "04. ENGINEERING"
If Not System.IO.Directory.Exists(oDesiredFolder4) Then
    System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(oDesiredFolder4)
	
	End If
	
Dim oDesiredFolder5 As String = Fpath & "\" & FolderNumberOnly & "\" & "05. TECH. DOCS"
If Not System.IO.Directory.Exists(oDesiredFolder5) Then
    System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(oDesiredFolder5)
	
	End If
	
	Dim oDesiredFolder6 As String = Fpath & "\" & FolderNumberOnly & "\" & "06. ESTIMATION"
If Not System.IO.Directory.Exists(oDesiredFolder6) Then
    System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(oDesiredFolder6)
	
	End If
	
	Dim oDesiredFolder7 As String = Fpath & "\" & FolderNumberOnly & "\" & "07. OTHER"
If Not System.IO.Directory.Exists(oDesiredFolder7) Then
    System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(oDesiredFolder7)
	
End If

MessageBox.Show("Folder " & FolderNumberOnly & " has been created to path: " & Fpath & "\" & FolderNumberOnly, "Your folders have been created. DON'T FORGET TO CHECK THEM IN.", MessageBoxButtons.OK)

[RobJV]

Daniel - thanks for that but the use of ilogic is already mentioned above (and works) by Davis and there is a link to this: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/vault-forum/vault-folder-structure-sync/m-p/10090132/highlight/true#M...  

We are just fussy and want something out of the box that does not need any local path editing.

[davis.j]

@RobJV 

Exactly. 

Plus not everyone is suited to using ILogic. A code this advanced being used by people that don't understand it could be catastrophic. Imagine if someone went monkeying around with iLogic code that worked with vault and accidentally deleted their whole vault workspace... 🤪😭

[DANIEL.DELANEY]

@RobJV Yeah I saw that, thanks. Would be pretty cumbersome 'getting' your entire Vault folder structure IMO. The above would just create the working folders a designer requires (based on drawing number) without having to manually do it. Another way would be just to have a standard folder template in share data you could drag over. Fair enough though, completely agree, an out of box solution is definitely better.

@davis.j As far as I'm aware, it's impossible to delete items in Vault with iLogic, though I think there is some further Vault functionality being introduced through iLogic in Inventor 2024? It's also pretty hard to accidently create a bit of script that would delete your entire local working drive, but yeah, if someone added that code in there & you didn't know; you'd have a bit of a problem to sort out.