About Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs

Use Autodesk® DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs to upload project data to Autodesk Docs with efficiency.

The Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs app provides guidance throughout the whole data migration process including data integrity checks, fixes, and uploading. It enables you to clean up data integrity issues so that the uploading process can complete successfully and efficiently.

To use this tool, the following prerequisites must be met:

For more information on how to use the tool, see To Migrate Files to Autodesk Docs Using Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs.

Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs will perform a data integrity check on the dataset that you have selected to upload and will identify different issues with the content if they are present. See the following sections for details on each issue type.

Tip: As a complement to the Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs app, you can use Reference Explorer to examine the dependencies inside your dataset.

Resolving Data Integrity Issues

DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs guides the data integrity maintenance process, including both issue checks and fixes. The Repair Local Data Integrity Issues tool is designed to track broken links and circular references. Related data is also reported since to resolve potential broken links once local data is migrated to Docs. Data integrity issues that can be resolved include the following:
  • Missing References in Local Drawings. After migration, missing references in a cloud project can lead to data inconsistencies, functionality issues, dependency problems, and maintenance difficulties, impacting system performance, and overall project effectiveness.
  • Related Data. When referenced files are not located in the same folder that is being migrated (or inside one of its subfolders), they will not be uploaded together with the host file and result in broken links.
  • Circular References. This will result in various collaboration issues.
  • Absolute paths. When files are shared among multiple users or across different systems, absolute paths will not resolve correctly on every system, leading to broken links and errors.

For more information, see To Migrate Files to Autodesk Docs Using Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs.

Data Integrity Issue Types

On the data integrity check, the following issues may be presented.

  • Issue type: Long File Path. Uploading files and folders with long paths will not cause issues with Desktop Connector. However, scanning these files and folders will be skipped by DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs until the issue is resolved. Additionally, there are still unsupported operations. Local workflows and those in Autodesk Docs with Desktop Connector will have synchronization problems such as automatic file locking, or file renaming.

    Refer to the Desktop Connector documentation for more information.

    How to fix this issue: Consider shortening the folder hierarchy and length of file/folder names.

  • Issue type: Some files have been skipped while updating. If you encounter a File Reference Update Warning with a list of files, there were problems during the scanning process. The files will be uploaded, but their reference relationships were likely not scanned completely and fully preserved. Try the following steps to troubleshoot:
    How to fix this issue:
    • Check file access: Ensure that you have the required read/write permissions to access the files.
    • Audit the drawings: Use the AUDIT command in AutoCAD or Civil 3D to detect and repair potential issues in the DWG files.

    If the issue persists, please gather the affected files along with the DWGRefMgr.exe log files, and share them with Civil 3D team for further investigation. The log files can be located here: C:\Users\{UserName}\AppData\Local\Temp\DWGRefMgr_Log\{executeTime}. Thank you for your cooperation!

  • Issue type: Missing References. When Desktop Connector transfers files with references, it attempts to find all referenced files. If the migration is performed without fixing the missing references, Desktop Connector will show the following notification: "Failure gathering references. One or more referenced files may have been deleted or you may not have read permissions."

    This issue indicates that the referenced files could not be found.

    This is an issue because the missing references will not be uploaded to Autodesk Docs. This will result in broken links in the host drawings stored in Autodesk Docs.

    How to fix this issue:
    • Option 1: Use Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs to resolve the Missing References issues. To do that, expand the list of missing references and specify the path where the missing file is located. The reference will be re-pathed and uploaded together with the host file to Autodesk Docs. Note that if the referenced file is not located within the host's folder structure (inside the same folder as the host or one of the subfolders below it), fixing the missing reference issue type will generate a Related Data issue type.
    • Option 2: Open the original file in the authoring application and resolve any missing references prior to uploading the file. Once the broken references are fixed and the changes to the host file are saved, you will need to select the Rescan button to consume the changes.
  • Issue type: Related Data. When Desktop Connector transfers host files with references, it evaluates the relative position of those references in relation to the host.

    When the referenced files are not located in the same folder that is being migrated (or inside one of its subfolders), they are considered to be "related data" and will not be uploaded together with the host file.

    This is an issue because related data is considered to be outside of the migration set so the affected files will be excluded from the migration and the paths to the referenced files will not be resolved inside the host file. This represents a data integrity issue and will result in broken references in the migrated dataset.

    How to fix this issue:
    • In Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs, expand the list of related data issues, select the files to resolve, and specify a folder for them to be uploaded to within the Autodesk Docs target location.

      You can select a target folder that represents the future state of the dataset in Autodesk Docs or create a new folder in which to store the referenced files.

      • Note: Folders that represent the future state of the dataset are marked in blue with a Pending state.
  • Issue type: Circular References. A sequence of nested references that refers back to itself is considered a circular reference. For example, if drawing A references drawing B, which references drawing C, which references drawing A, the reference sequence A>B>C>A is a circular reference.

    This is an issue because circular references may result in problems when downloading and uploading documents through Desktop Connector, and may also affect performance.

    How to fix this issue: This type of issue is considered informative because it cannot be resolved within the Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs app. It is recommended but not required to remove circular references if possible. To remove circular references:
    1. Use Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs to check if there are any circular references in the selected dataset.
    2. Open the affected files in the authoring application, such as Civil 3D or AutoCAD.
      Note: You can click the file name to expand the dependency map and review its references.
    3. Remove the references that result in a circular dependency.
    4. Save the files.
    5. Click the Rescan button to consume the changes.
  • Issue type: Duplicated File Name. In rare scenarios where datasets contain several source files with the same name stored locally in different paths, resolving the previous issue types (Missing References, Related Data) can generate a Duplicated File Name issue.

    This occurs when two source files with the same name are selected to be stored in the same Autodesk Docs target location. The files with the same name can represent the exact same file, different versions of the same file, or totally different files that happen to share the same name.

    This is an issue because uploading two files with the same name to Desktop Connector will result in failed pending actions and/or unexpected file overwrites.

    How to fix this issue: Use Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs to resolve this issue using the most appropriate option for each file:
    • Select the file and use the Resolve button to specify a different target location for the file.
    • Select the file and click the "..." button on the right. Then, select the Do Not Upload option so the file will not be uploaded.
  • Issue type: Unsupported Files. Supported and unsupported file types are documented in the following product topics:

    Attempting to upload unsupported file types is an issue because it will cause a failed pending action in Desktop Connector.

    This type of issue is considered informative because it does not require user input. The Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs app will exclude unsupported file types from the upload process.

Best practices for migrating Civil 3D data shortcut projects

When migrating a Civil 3D data shortcut project using Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs, the data reference (DREF) information in the host drawings will be automatically updated to point to the new paths in Autodesk Docs, but the information in the data shortcut .xml files will not be updated. This will not impact the data shortcut mechanism as long as the source drawings are stored within the folder to be migrated and the relative path to the working folder remains the same after migration. In those cases, the data reference to the shortcuts will be found and resolved in Civil 3D for other users with sufficient permissions.

The following conditions can lead to broken shortcuts after migration:

To resolve broken references after migration, use the Data Shortcuts Editor to specify the path in Autodesk Docs where the source drawing is located.

Note: The original path in the data shortcut .xml files is displayed for all shortcuts in the Data Shortcuts Editor, so you will not observe changes to that path after uploading the project to Autodesk Docs. If desired, all paths can be fixed to point to the Autodesk Docs path after the migration has finished.

Considerations and best practices to migrate large or complex datasets

There are some operations within the Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs app (such as checking data integrity, fixing multiple missing references, preparing the list for upload, and browsing to a folder in Autodesk Docs) where there might be processing delays. These delays are greater when the dataset contains many files and folders. In this case, please wait until the app finishes processing.

Additionally, Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs copies the selected folders and files to the Desktop Connector workspace, and then relies on Desktop Connector for the uploading process. Both processes can be time consuming for large and/or complex datasets. For that reason, it is recommended to use Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs when Desktop Connector is not being used for other processes (there should not be any Pending Actions). The following operations should be avoided while running a migration: opening and saving drawings, dragging and dropping folders into Desktop Connector, and running multiple instances of the app.

For complex projects, the file space required for processing and migrating files can be quite large. A default temporary folder is used to store the files when generating the JSON export reference file: C:\Users\{UserName}\AppData\Local\Temp\DWGMigrationForDocs_Temp. You can specify a new location on a separate drive if necessary. Click Settings in the upper right hand corner of the DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs app. In the Settings dialog box, specify a new temporary folder location and click Save.

While Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs can identify all data integrity issues for a given dataset, it may be counterproductive to fix them all within the app if the number of issues is high. If you have a large dataset (either in size or the number of files) where many Long Path issues, Missing References issues, and Related Data issues are found, consider spending time to re-arrange folders and fix references locally, and then use the Rescan button to consume the changes. The more issues that need to be fixed, the longer it will take for the app to complete all the processes (including the uploading phase, which could consume excessive bandwidth).

Use the exclusion list to filter out unnecessary files (.log, .tmp, .err, and so on) which will not be necessary and will increase the processing times. Similarly, you can clear the selection of entire folders from the local dataset if desired.

Avoid as many circular references as possible, especially if they contain many nested levels, as these may increase the uploading times. If the circular relationship is needed, consider removing it temporarily for the migration, and then add it back after the files are stored in Autodesk Docs.

Known issues in the Autodesk DWG Integrity and Migration for Docs app

Parent topic: Autodesk Collaboration for Civil 3D