Vectorworks Tip 425 – Project Sharing on Dropbox

At present we are not allowed to create project sharing on dropbox. Project sharing has to be set up on a network system, either in an office, or using a VPN (Virtual Personal Network). Sharing systems like dropbox, box, et cetera use a system that project sharing will not work with at the moment. I have no way of knowing, but I hope this will change in the future.

We are covering Project Sharing in the May archoncad Interactive Workshops, Book Now!

Vectorworks Tip 421 – Project Sharing – Privileges

When you are setting up a project sharing project you will want to limit the privileges of the users. Not everybody should have administrator privileges. There are a range of privileges that allow users different access to the file. The administrator has full privileges allowing them to add or remove users, change the privileges of users, change any resource in the file, etc. you can also create users that have limited access to parts of the file. The restricted access to the file can prevent people from updating or creating new layers, updating or creating new classes, editing resources, and is also a read-only privilege that doesn't allow any changes at all.

Vectorworks Tip 417 - Setting Up a Project for Sharing

Setting up a project for project sharing is reasonably straightforward, but make sure you store the project in a suitable location so that everyone ca access it. DO NOT store this project in a online syncronised folder (like Box, Dropbox, etc). Set up the Admin privelges and start working. 

Vectorworks Tip 413 - What Is Project Sharing?

Project sharing is the ability to have several people working on a project where all theinformation is saved in a single project file. In the past you could use Reference Files, but these only shared information in one direction. Project sharing allows several people to share the information in both directions. We will be covering this in manual and online sessions in May 2016. Book Now...

Vectorworks Tip 394 - Project Sharing - Releasing

When you have completed your task on the project, you should release the layers you been working. Remember, nobody else can work on the layers that you have checked out, so in order for other people to work on those layers you have to release them. You can choose to release the layers, but when you do, if you haven't save saved and committed the work to the project file, you will be asked whether you want to commit this work or discard it.

Vectorworks Tip 390 - Project Sharing - Commiting

In order for other people to see your work, you have to commit your work to the project file. From the file menu there is a Save and Commit… command that will save your work to the project file. After you have done this other users will be able to see your change.

Vectorworks Tip 385 - Project Sharing - Saving

Because your working file is separate from your project file, when you save your working file, the information is not automatically transferred to the project file. This allows you to save your work without updating the project file. This might seem strange, but it would be a good idea if you wanted to try out a new design without changing the project file for everybody else on the team.

Vectorworks Tip 380 - Project Sharing - Opening

When you try to open a project file, Vectorworks will a copy of the project file will be called a working file and will append your username to the file name. You can never really open the project file.

Vectorworks Tip 375 - Project Sharing - Setting Up Privileges For Users

Project sharing has an administration dialog box that allows you to set up preferences (or privileges) for different users. This allows you to set up a system that allows some users to have full access to the file,while other uses can only see the contents of the file and cannot make any changes (and the range of options between).

Vectorworks Tip 370 - Project Sharing - Viewports

Because the design layer is the basic currency of project sharing, if you want to update a viewport on a sheet layer, you may need to check out that sheet layer and the design layers that have been used to create that viewport. If you do not you will be limited to only editing the viewport annotations.

Vectorworks Tip 365 - Project Sharing (Check out a Layer)

The basic currency of project sharing is the Design Layer. When you want to work on a project, you have to check out a design layer before you can edit anything.

Vectorworks Tip 335 - Project Sharing - Save and Commit

When you are working on a Working File and you save your work, this work is not automatically sent to the project file. This gives you the option of trying out some of your design before committing it for others to work on. if you want to send your work to the project file you need to use the command Save and Commit. This command will save your work And it will send your changes to the project file. If you do not save and commit, no one else will see your changes.

Vectorworks Tip 331 – Project files and Working Files

The concept behind project sharing is that there is one Project file, but eveyone that wants to work on the project has a working file. The data is stored in the Project file and the working file, but the data is only sent to the Project File when you Save and Commit the changes. Until then, the changes are only kept in the Working File. 

Vectorworks Tip 327 – Project Sharing

Project sharing allows you to set up a project so that several people can work on it at once. It allows users to check out specific layers (like checking out a book from a library), which prevents other people from working in those layers. Other users can see the changes that go on, but they cannot edit layers that have been checked out.