A common request from Vault users is to be able to manage document templates more effectively. Firstly, what do I mean by a document template? This is not just .dwt files, it could be any file that acts as a starting point for new documents including CAD files and Office documents. Commonly we see 2 approaches to template management at Vault customer sites.
Approach 1: Keep Templates In Vault
The downside to this approach is that user must do a “Get / Checkout” on the files before creating a new file using the template otherwise they may not have the latest version of the template. Additionally, creating a new file from this template can be more cumbersome than it needs to be.
Approach 2: Use Network Drives (instead of Vault)
This involves storing template files on a network drive, as would have been done before implementing Vault. Whilst this ensures that they are using the latest version, the obvious downside is missing out on all the benefits of a having a Data Management solution.
A Better Way...
In order to overcome issues from either approach, Vault Data Standard (VDS) can be used to implement a better solution. If you are not familiar with VDS, then I suggest taking a look at the online help documentation, or via Autodesk Learning Central if you have access.
What Comes Out Of The Box
Out of the box, Data Standard comes with a mechanism for effectively using document templates. After installing VDS, new menu options become available in Vault Client and the workflow is as follows:
1. Right-click the desired folder location for the new file and click the “New Standard File…” button.
2. The New File dialog opens – select the document type that you want to create (document type defines the list of template files that will be available)
Now the template field will be loaded with document templates of that type… only out of the box, chances are that it will say “Add template folders and files first” instead of letting you select a template.
So what is happening? VDS is configured to look in some configured folders for template files and if those folders don’t exist or are empty then VDS won’t have any templates to work with.
Configuring template file locations
There are 2 options… either move your templates to where VDS expects them, or change the configuration of VDS to look in your preferred template folders.
Option 1: Add/Move your template files to default locations
By default, VDS is looking in the following locations for the various document types (listed in the ‘Document Type’ field from screenshot above):
So lets add a couple of files to the $/Templates/AutoCAD folder and see what happens (you will likely need to add these folders also).
So now I have 2 files in $/Templates/AutoCAD – both Autodesk.dwg and AutodeskConsulting.dwg. Now when I choose ‘New Standard File…’ and pick ‘AutoCAD Drawings’ from the document type list I can see these 2 files as templates.
By filling the rest of the mandatory fields and clicking ‘OK’, a new file is created in Vault based on the template selected. This file can then be checked out and edited in AutoCAD like any other Vault document.
Option 2: Editing the Template file location configuration
If you don’t want to use the out of box configuration for template locations then it’s necessary to change the configuration so VDS looks in your preferred folder(s) for template files. This is done by editing the following file:
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Vault 2015\Extensions\DataStandard\Vault\Configuration\File.xaml
Inside this file you will see a section that specifies the various document types and their corresponding template location – it looks like this by default:
By changing the Path values, or by adding/removing editing entire DocTypeInfo nodes, you can change the locations that VDS will look in. For example, you may want to sort your templates by Region instead of by file type, in which case the configuration would look something like this:
Of course, we need the corresponding folders to exist inside of Vault, together with our template files:
Now when you choose ‘New Standard File’, the document type list and template files reference the updated configuration:
Click 'OK' to create the new file in Vault based on the template. This file can then be checked out and edited in AutoCAD like any other Vault document.
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