Vault and Productstream - Go To Folder!!!

One of the most important tools I always use when navigating in Vault or Productstream is the "Go To Folder" right click menu. This option will automatically navigate to a related file's folder location and highlight that file for you. Want to go directly to the folder for the assembly a particular part file in Inventor was used in? No Problem. Just right click on the Assembly file in the "Where Used" results for the part and pick the "Go To Folder" option.

Contributed by Ben of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Autodesk Vault for non-CAD files

Because Autodesk Vault automatically comes with any of the Autodesk manufacturing products like Inventor or AutoCAD Electrical, most people primarily utilize Vault for the storage and tracking of CAD data. This mentality then causes the problem of multiple file storage locations that we are trying to avoid with a data management system in the first place. Vault can be used to store any type of file, and even comes with a Microsoft Office plugin that allows the direct check-in of files from applications like Word. Even without a plugin, any file can be managed with Vault as you can see by the following video:

Watch Video Here

Contributed by Ben of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Vault and Productstream - Automatic DWF Publishing Options

New DWF publishing options are available for users of Vault and Productstream 2009, but they are currently hidden in an XML file that must be edited to make changes. The Publish Options.xml file contains many DWF options for Inventor 2D and 3D files as well as AutoCAD. This file allows us to disable measure, markup, and printing of Vaulted DWF files. It can also be used to change the facet resolution of 3D files, and background color of 2D Inventor drawings that are published as well as a host of other options.

Take a look at this Autodesk Whitepaper for a list of all the options:
http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/publishing_options_for_autodesk_vault_2009.pdf

Here is a video example of the difference a change in 3D model facet resolution can make:
Watch Video Here

Contributed by Ben of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Shortcut Organization in Vault

I have previously pointed out the benefits of using shortcuts in Vault to keep track of the active jobs or designs I am working on, but some Vault users have a lot of different common areas they access. If you have as many shorcuts on your desktop as me, you most likely could use some housekeeping on your Vault shortcuts as well. This can be accomplished by creating new Shortcut Groups in Vault as shown above. These are essentially like creating extra folders to sort your shortcuts and make it easier to get to just the right Vault location in a hurry.

Contributed by Ben of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Vault - Double Click View or Open?

Depending on your workflow, you may want to change one of the default settings in Vault or Productstream that controls the double click response. The default response is to Open the file in its native application, but some people would rather get a better View of the design or drawing without taking the time to open it in the CAD software. Try changing the double click setting in the options dialog box if you want to change the behavior.

Check out this video for an example:

Watch Video Here

Contributed by Ben of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Vault Viewing - Text Searching Trick

One of my recent finds in the View tab in Vault and Productstream is the ability to do a Text Search within the current visualization file. This allows you to locate specific text on a drawing directly inside the Vault or Productstream interface. Just right click on the view and pick "Search".


Take a look at this short video example:

Watch Video Here

Contributed by Ben of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Delete Permissions in Vault or ProductStream

Every company is concerned about safeguarding their engineering data, and both Vault and Productstream allow control over exactly who has the ability to delete files and folders. You may have Power Users in charge of cleaning up unnecessary Vault data, and will therefore need Delete permissions. Other daily CAD users may be a little too quick with the delete function, and this is something that might need to be precisely controlled. Take a look at this short video for a look at the different Vault roles that determine who can delete.

Watch Video Here

Contributed by Ben of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Controlling Vault Prompts - Streamline your Data Management interface

When I am showing customers how Vault and ProductStream function, I typically show the interface, dialog boxes, and prompts like they are when the software is installed. If I were using Vault in a production environment, I would usually always have the same response to dialog boxes and prompts. It is now possible to completely streamline the Vault interface so that a CAD user might not even know they are checking files out and back in to Vault. Just take a look at the Vault Options available in the CAD Application and it could improve your workflow as well.

Contributed by Ben of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Set It and Forget It!!!

You may have seen the infomercial or not, it rings a bell for me working those long hours completing task I just did not have time to complete at work, Task Scheduler to the rescue. This functionality gives me the ability to schedule common task when I am away from my machine. Task like: Migrating files, Updating a design, publishing dwf’s, printing, importing and exporting files, check into and out of vault, retrieving latest versions from vault and converting idw’s to dwg’s. Set up a single task or run multiples at once you pick the time and day.

Check out my video of how to do this.

http://screencast.com/t/JN7Cwz6CwL

Submitted by Dave of the INCAT CAD Geeks

How do you know which Inventor Drawings to update...

Using Autodesk Vault, the status of any file can be determined at a moments notice. This can be a life saver to anyone detailing drawings and needing to update them after a design has been modified.

The following video shows how to set up the "File Status" option, and how it can be used with Inventor:
http://www.screencast.com/t/EalNCX0RrI2

Contributed by Ben of the INCAT CAD Geeks

Understanding version vs. revisions

Within Autodesk Vault we have wonderful version management, but most customers would also like the ability to capture each revisions level. The Vaults bigger brother called Productstream will do that for you. Check out this image to better understand the basics.

Enjoy

Kevin with the INCAT Geeks