DHerb2014 Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Wanted to throw this out to you experts on Chief - doing some research and trying to find out your best recommendations for sharing files of large projects with a design team in another state? There are several options that come to mind - Dropbox, iDrive, and other Cloud services. We are running on a Windows platform and want to be able to easily access files and update content as-needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renerabbitt Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 1 hour ago, DHerb2014 said: Wanted to throw this out to you experts on Chief - doing some research and trying to find out your best recommendations for sharing files of large projects with a design team in another state? There are several options that come to mind - Dropbox, iDrive, and other Cloud services. We are running on a Windows platform and want to be able to easily access files and update content as-needed. I've gone through a 1000 setups. I am a very very advanced cloud user. Either a NAS or Dropbox...onedrive/google drive are crap. Don't try and setup a single sync data folder..It's a logistical nightmare. Every approach will be a process...nothing will ever simply be seemless until chief updates with their cloud Project Managements thats been in development for 3+ years 1 method..my preferred method for teams other than my own: Share a dropbox folder do NOT rename the plan files rename the folders containing plan and layout to track your versioning copy paste an entire version folder and rename folder for next iteration of the project's design export all material files for the project into your version folders Thats it, easy peasy. Cons: File Bloat..archive it and offline revious versions(selective sync) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProPlan_2011 Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Just curious as to why you retained DropBox, versus Google Drive et al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenPalmer Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 As often as this comes up now and the world moving to the cloud, so it will only come up more, this needs to be a priority update for Chief in X16!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renerabbitt Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 29 minutes ago, ProPlan_2011 said: Just curious as to why you retained DropBox, versus Google Drive et al. Too many sync issues, too many file locking issues, redundency checks, conflicted copies, etc. Dropbox is worlds apart...and I am a G-Suite guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renerabbitt Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 12 minutes ago, BenPalmer said: As often as this comes up now and the world moving to the cloud, so it will only come up more, this needs to be a priority update for Chief in X16!! Its been a priority update for years..but they can't infringe on copyrights for other cloud based systems and they had to build a server setup...takes years..the preview was looking pretty good 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenPalmer Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 26 minutes ago, Renerabbitt said: Too many sync issues, too many file locking issues, redundency checks, conflicted copies, etc. Dropbox is worlds apart...and I am a G-Suite guy Dropbox has started a 'backup' service, still in beta. I tried it out, but it's got a ways to go. Would be nice to have both syncing and backup. I wish they supported symbolic links. Once the backup service is matured, that will fix it and would be my preferred choice. I'm trying out Google Drive since it offers both (backup and sync)...so far so good, but I don't use it for Chief library sharing. (naturally, when Chief supports sharing, none of this should matter..?). I also have OneDrive, but it keeps having conflicts and want more reliability....but I keep it around since it's included with 365. Not intended to hijack the OP's thread, hoping to add meaningful info based on my experience...welcome others feedback and suggestions...maybe a new thread needed on backup services..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renerabbitt Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 6 minutes ago, BenPalmer said: naturally, when Chief supports sharing, none of this should matter..? I will still be using my system. its bulletproof. Though I will distribute my shop items through their access system 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHerb2014 Posted January 12 Author Share Posted January 12 Thanks for your comments. Rene, what is an NAS and could you describe it? I'm new to this, so any help is sincerely appreciated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renerabbitt Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 57 minutes ago, DHerb2014 said: Thanks for your comments. Rene, what is an NAS and could you describe it? I'm new to this, so any help is sincerely appreciated... Network Access Storage like Synology..you essentially create a cloud service with your own physical hardware Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHerb2014 Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 Rene, Since you're an expert on Dropbox, my collaborator and I just tried an experiment from separate states. He sent me a text folder, with link to DB. I clicked the link and DB opened. I selected the file and couldn't preview it, and the only option was to download the file. We're trying to be able to access the file together (e.g., XYZ.plan) and not have to download it to a remote computer (mine). He is able to do this with a desktop shortcut icon and get right into DB/ X15. If I try to make a shortcut on DB, it only allows me to access the folder and need to download the file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renerabbitt Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 33 minutes ago, DHerb2014 said: Rene, Since you're an expert on Dropbox, my collaborator and I just tried an experiment from separate states. He sent me a text folder, with link to DB. I clicked the link and DB opened. I selected the file and couldn't preview it, and the only option was to download the file. We're trying to be able to access the file together (e.g., XYZ.plan) and not have to download it to a remote computer (mine). He is able to do this with a desktop shortcut icon and get right into DB/ X15. If I try to make a shortcut on DB, it only allows me to access the folder and need to download the file. You would always need to download the file. Chief will not work with online-based files. You can not work on the same file at the same time(You can work on a duplicate of a file at the same time) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHerb2014 Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 Rene, thanks for sharing your vid, as I just finished watching it. Since you're part of the Chief beta team, could I suggest an idea here? How about a new layer called "Changes / Modifications" or whatever your beta team would commit to? You'd click on the icon in the rightmost panel (where Snaps, Lineweights, etc. live). It would track the current floor plan and the new layer could be added on top, where the changes could take place. It would have a different color (selected by user) and a new Reference Display dedicated to the new modifications to the floor plan. The person or team opening the new/updated project would see the existing floor plan, but now would have this overlay or layer showing changes that were made by another team member. All they would have to do is click an "update original floor plan" command, and it would unlock the new layer and apply the new updates. The person or team would just remove the existing objects and it would blend the floor plans together. It could be something similar to Photoshop layers but very easy to understand and make changes. AutoCAD has XRef's and this suggestion in Chief could be a workaround. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
para-CAD Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 3 hours ago, DHerb2014 said: Rene, Since you're an expert on Dropbox, my collaborator and I just tried an experiment from separate states. He sent me a text folder, with link to DB. I clicked the link and DB opened. I selected the file and couldn't preview it, and the only option was to download the file. We're trying to be able to access the file together (e.g., XYZ.plan) and not have to download it to a remote computer (mine). He is able to do this with a desktop shortcut icon and get right into DB/ X15. If I try to make a shortcut on DB, it only allows me to access the folder and need to download the file. First thing wrong. You don't share links to files because that is a one-way street. 1. Create a folder in Dropbox. 2. Add users to this folder as editable members to this now Shared folder. 3. When a collaborative user accepts the share option, both users will see the same Shared Folder on both systems. 4. Any files in the shared folder can be accessed by people who have accepted the shared offer. All of this is in Dropbox's user literature. I share folders with each client......each can access just the folder I share with them. They can upload files, I can share files. Texting a link is for people to quickly access a direct file or folder...to view or download.....not 2-way share. You have to actually SHARE a folder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHerb2014 Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 Thank you for this update on Dropbox. Lot of good info in this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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