(Nice "hat?" "hair?" "bonnet?" by the way)
Ok, this is interesting...
My path to
write the TPs is set to the server. I make them, export them, etc. I have the read/write rights, along with other cad nazi's here. (and I use that term LOOSELY)
When I update a certain TP, I need to delete the folder with the same name (i.e. Lighting Demolition folder AND Lighting Demolition.xtp exist. To update, delete the Lighting Demolition
folder (thru windows explorer), and then export the way you normally would. It recreates the folder you need. If you don't delete it, it creates "Lighting Demolition_2" which is the most up to date, while others are using the first one...
THEN, this is the interesting part. I went to one of my coworkers (aka guinea pigs) computers, and removed the LOCAL path to the previously manually imported tool palettes, and browsed to the one on the server. It automatically loaded all of the exported TPs, and from their pc, I could drag and drop any groups. The best part is, (so far, as best as I can tell) the little "lock" icon is still there! (It remains as long as I don't try to manually import from THEIR machine.)
Theoretically,... after I update a toolpalette, they just need to exit out of autocad and reopen the program to get the update. I think. I hope. (pretty pretty please??)