tawfik Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 I have two licenses of Chief Architect and there are two people in my office who work on plans: myself and a drafter. We are a semi-custom homebuilder and we build around 80 homes per year. When we start building in a new community, we create a new layout template for that community. We also create a new Master Details/Notes file for that community. We save these two files in a folder called "Communityname>Template Files" As comments come back from the plan reviewers we incorporate them into this master details file. To create a lot-specific set of blueprints, we simply save the Master Layout file into a new folder for the lot specific plan. This system works great when I am the only person working on the plans. When my drafter opens the plans from her computer, the plan files always load, but the details file almost never does. So then she needs to go and re-link the details file. Likewise, when I open a layout she has worked on, I can see the plans and views but almost always I have to re-link the details file. We are not re-creating a details file for each plan as that would get completely confusing and out of hand. I suspect the issue is the path my computer sees to the details page (CommunityName>CommunityTemplate>Details) is different from the path my drafter's computer sees to get to the same file. Has anyone run into this issue before? Have you found a solution to fix the issue? I tried working off of Google Drive as well and had the same issues. Also, Im working off a Mac and shes working off a PC...not sure if the dropbox file structures are different for the two platforms? Thanks in advance Aladdin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chief58 Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 I also have 2 lic and my son and we keep all our files in dropbox under the clients name I haven't seen a problem or he hasn't said he has and we are not in the same building, he does the structural from his house and I do the drawings from my office, we don't work on the same client at the same time, this is just us others might see things different or call tech support. We both use windows also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tawfik Posted May 17, 2017 Author Share Posted May 17, 2017 Attached is a screenshot of the error... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Gia Posted May 17, 2017 Share Posted May 17, 2017 I do the same but we log into the same Dropbox account rather than share a Dropbox file or folder. I think that is the difference. If you are sharing files between two Dropbox accounts there will be issues. Although technically there shouldn't be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javatom Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 All the files used by a layout file have to be in the same folder. Don't change plan file names or you will lose the link. Using dropbox as a drive common to both of you may not be the ideal way to do this. Use it as a way to upload and download the latest FOLDER and title it by date so you can tell the most advanced version of the project. I think you will find that things will work nicely if the folder is on your computer as you work on the project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Gia Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 47 minutes ago, javatom said: All the files used by a layout file have to be in the same folder. Don't change plan file names or you will lose the link. Using dropbox as a drive common to both of you may not be the ideal way to do this. Use it as a way to upload and download the latest FOLDER and title it by date so you can tell the most advanced version of the project. I think you will find that things will work nicely if the folder is on your computer as you work on the project. Not true. Dropbox IS the way to do this. The link between a shared file however is what's messing things up. You have to use only one Dropbox account. Also your first sentence is a recommandation but the plan file does not necessarily need to be in the same folder. You can have a template file for things like notes and cad detail that can be shared across multiple layout files residing in different folders all over the place. I do this and it works 100%. The downside is I'm sharing a Dropbox account with someone else. This has to be someone you trust of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javatom Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 I come from the standpoint of working with hundreds of clients, many of them other designers on this forum. It is a system that works for me. If you have a system that works for you and one other person that's great. Don't change anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe_Carrick Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 The layout boxes in a Layout have a link to a specific path/filename (the location the view was sent from). As long as both/all systems are using identical path/filenames there should be no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Gia Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 12 minutes ago, javatom said: I come from the standpoint of working with hundreds of clients, many of them other designers on this forum. It is a system that works for me. If you have a system that works for you and one other person that's great. Don't change anything. Ok big shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javatom Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Why the attitude? I said if it works for you keep doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Gia Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 ...just seemed like you were posturing, since you didn't really offer any further clarification. My apologies if I misread you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
javatom Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 I think it is important for users to understand the difference in a one man shop and a multi user operation. If your business model includes many different clients that are also owners of the software, it might be quite a headache to allow all of them into the drive (dropbox) that you are using to create the plan for them. I use dropbox, onedrive etc. as a means of backup and file sharing but when I work on a plan, it resides on my computer. It is just a system that works well in this scenario. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tawfik Posted May 18, 2017 Author Share Posted May 18, 2017 s a Thanks for all the feedback. Its nice to know that its not just me. In researching potential solutions, it seems Dropbox has a Dropbox for Business plan...which allows different users to have a shared folder with the same path. I am going to look more into that and Ill report back if it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Gia Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 That would be a really great service. Thanks for bringing this up. I'm still hoping that one day Chief can offer its own in-house file sharing service, complete with full collaboration features. Like Archicad and Revit does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tawfik Posted May 18, 2017 Author Share Posted May 18, 2017 Spent a good part of the day setting up dropbox for business (and spending $450) and unfortunately, it didn't work. So what are the best practices for sharing files across different computers/users? Again, my main issue is that I want to maintain a master details file without copying it into every plan file that we do. This requires it to be in a sub- directory which the two computers are seeing differently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael_Gia Posted May 18, 2017 Share Posted May 18, 2017 Share the same dropbox account is the only way I found that works reliably. Even if you have to open a separate dropbox account for each large project this is still a viable option. All it means is that you'll have multiple dropbox drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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