reference paths

[gccdaemon]

I'm in need of some extreme help. We're moving servers, and a partner wants to rename one of the folders that contains all the municipal entities, local cities, county, and state information such as GIS and details that are referenced into many years of projects. Does anyone know of a way to go through an entire directory and find/replace the folder name in references? This includes PDF references as weel as dwg. I know the Reference manager will do this, but would take weeks to go thru all those drawings.

[doglips]

You could try the AutoCAD Xref Manager in your AutoCAD selection of All Proghrams

[gccdaemon]

Yes, but that will take weeks with literally thousands of folders to go thru.

[paullimapa]

Explain to the partner the ramifications and the man hours it'll take as a consequence of the folder rename and then if he still wants it done, at least you'll be paid.

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[scot-65]

An alternate is to not rename the folder but rather
after the merging into the new server map a drive
to the 'old root folder' using the original drive letter.

Backstory:
We had a server that contained several 'root' folders.
The IT guru decided to combine a few root folders
into a single folder. Doing this caused all xref and
image paths to be broken. The solution was to map
the original drive letter, pointing to the original root
folder (which is now a sub-folder).

With your favorite file manager, point to "Computer"
and map the drive.

???

[3wood]

I think it only take a few minutes instead of weeks to replace the file directories in Reference Manager.

Step 1, Sort all files by "Found Path" and select multiple files to replace paths.

Step 2, Click "Find and Replace" button, then replace the old path with new path.

Step 3, Click "Apply Changes".

[gccdaemon]

       OK, let me give you more information. There are over 5000 folders to go through with over 50,000 CAD files ranging from 1meg to 250 meg. The reference manager doesn't have the ability to open drawings in subfolders. You physically have to go into each of the 5000 folders to add drawings to the reference manager. At 30 seconds a folder that's still 4 work days just to add the files to the reference manager and that doesn't include changing the paths and applying changes.

      Now, I found that you are able to drag and drop dwg's into the reference manager from windows explorer which simplifies the process significantly if I search for *.DWG on the server. I ran a test on 1500 files and it took 4 hours to load, change, and apply. Looks like I'm just going to have to do it that way.

I was hoping someone had a program or something that they use for this other than using the reference manager because the Find & Replace doesn't work for a specific folder in the paths.

[paullimapa]

A way to resolve this is to do a search for all *.dwg using Windows Explorer at the Root Folder.

Explorer will list all the drawings found including those in the subfolders.

Then you use Ctrl+A keyboard combination to select all the found dwgs.

Finally, drag & drop all selected dwgs into Reference Manager.

Just make sure no one have those drawings opened when Reference Manager replaces the paths and you are set.

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[gccdaemon]

That's what I just said, lol. And my reference manager keeps crashing on top of it. Another quality product from AutoDesk, lol. 😉

[paullimapa]

Hm...Reference Manager has never crashed on me before...but then again obviously it's crashing for you.

Well, at least you're getting paid to get this done..lol

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[dgorsman]

I find it functions better with around 50-100 drawings at a time.

By the time you put something together that is bomb-proof, and run it, and work around anything that isn't standard, you'll be spending about as much time as with the Reference Manager.  I've done similar tasks, and it's not too big of a job if you work on it with a priority system.  You won't need *everything* right away, right now (otherwise, they wouldn't be making such a disruptive change).  Instead, identify the critical parts to start with; then work on the others as they become required.

[3wood]

Not sure if this similar solution suits your situation. If the new and old directory system is slightly different, you can try to use subst command in DOS.

https://sites.google.com/site/cadkits/autocad-faq/autocad-tips/how-to-keep-original-xref-structure-i...

I think you can consult your IT staff and see if they can create some virtual mirror with your original folder name.