Get your AutoCAD Projects Setup

After teaching a at Autodesk University 2014 and having my hands on lab class navigate to project folders was something I did not anticipate taking much time. With all those long names and paths we have for the datasets at AU2014 I soon realized that it can become confusing and hard to explain where the files are located. This all taking off valuable time I needed for the hands on lab. What people do not know is before my second lab I went into the room at 6am and setup the project folders. I knew I was already under a bit of pressure due to a 90 minute lab on Sheet Sets and I needed to get to the files quickly.

Here is what I did and what you can do to start your week of right with AutoCAD and it’s verticals.

Move to the Ribbon and select Open to launch the select file dialog box. Figure 1 shows that I simply navigated to my class folder at AU2014 then left-clicked the project folder and dragged and dropped right into the AutoCAD start up places on the left.  Simply hold down your mouse and drag that folder over there. I did the same for the start folder as well as the root class folder. This made things much easier for us to navigate through the files.

Figure 1: AutoCAD Open Dialog Box

After the project folders are setup just hit Cancel and select Yes as shown in Figure 2. The next time you launch AutoCAD your folders will be located in the start up places.

Figure 2: Save my Places

That is it! When you arrive to work on Monday morning, look at your project list and setup the Places list in AutoCAD. It will save you a great deal of time trying to locate projects which are deeply nested on your company’s network drive.  Note: After you get all your projects setup they may be by a number or some other name of the folder. You can right-click that folder and select properties and rename the folder as shown in Figure 3. This only renames the folder in the AutoCAD places and does not affect anything on your network

Figure 3: Rename the Folder 

Look for my next post to be about my classes at AU2014 and Yes, I will provide that every popular word search puzzle I passed out at class. Setup your projects using Start up places and avoid searching your network for the files you need.