File Paths

[jcoe]

I have been in the process of revapamping our AutoCAD network drive which meant a new drive letter designation. My question is, do the network drive path designations for AutoCAD only exist as part of the user profile? when I release this, I would like to do this in a way where I reset the directory paths, but not the users' interface. I thought of a script file, but I do not see how this would work without resetting the users' interface/ profile.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

[irneb]

Assuming you have a set of customizations on your server and want to remap existing installation to this, you may find this utility usefull: http://www.cadwerx.net/?path=AcadInstall

Otherwise you could modify the ACAD registry value through a SCRIPT using the LISP
(getenv "ACAD") and (setenv "ACAD" ...) by finding the old value and replacing with the new. Possibly use the (vl-string-subst ...) function for this.

And then I'm guessing your biggest problem would actually be XRefs. For this I'd suggest using the Reference Manager (installed together with AutoCAD). You can find it under the Start Menu --> All Programs --> AutoDesk --> AutoCAD 200# --> Reference Manager.

[ameador]

Just a quick comment on the Reference Manager...I don't know what version you are using, but I do know that the Ref Mgr is broken in ABS07 and 08. I don't know if it has been fixed in 09.

See comments on this poll:
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=57345

[robert.1.hall72202]

Random thought:
I am always worried about AutoCad not being able to find the correct network drive.
Would it be helpful to change the newtwork drive on a whim while having each computer map a drive letter to the correct network drive?

The user could map "P:Autocad" to any network location.

[irneb]

That's always a problem. The only way of getting around is relative paths.

[tedg]

That's always a problem. The only way of getting around is relative paths.

^^ I totally agree, we use Relative Xref Paths for this reason.
As long as you keep the same folder naming and hierarchy, it doesn't matter where they live.

[ameador]

Relative pathing should also help if you pass dwgs off (that have xrefs in them) to other companies that don't have the same letter pathing that you have.