About Setting Up a Civil 3D Data Shortcut Project in Forma Data Management

This topic covers key points when setting up data shortcut projects in Forma Data Management.

For information about creating a data shortcut project in Forma Data Management, see To Create a Data Shortcut Project in Forma Data Management.

For information about working in a data shortcut in Forma Data Management, see About Working on a Data Shortcut Project in Forma Data Management.

Understand the difference between a Civil 3D data shortcut project and an Forma Data Management project

• There is not a 1:1 relationship between a Civil 3D data shortcut project and an Forma Data Management project.
• Creating a data shortcut project within Civil 3D will not result in the creation of an Forma Data Management project.
• Before creating a data shortcut project in Forma Data Management, a project must exist in Forma Data Management.

Ensure that the working folder and the data shortcut project folder in Civil 3D are set to the correct locations

If the design files of a Civil 3D project are stored in Forma Data Management, the data shortcuts must be as well.

• It is recommended that a subfolder within \Project Files is set as the data shortcut working folder from within Civil 3D. You can create the Civil 3D data shortcut project within that specified working folder.
  Note: It is possible to set the top level \Project Files folder as the working folder, but only administrators can see the \Project Files folder so it is recommended that you use a subfolder within \Project Files.
• Make sure that the collaborators who intend to save drawings know where inside the Forma Data Management project the working folder is located and set the working folder and project folder correctly, even if they are not going to edit the data shortcuts. To minimize processing time, the collaborators should do this the first day they work in the project. If these folders are not set correctly, collaborators might save their own drawings with missing dependencies which could cause issues for the rest of the team.

In order for collaborators to create references from data shortcuts, they must have at least View permissions on every folder between the referenced file and the data shortcut working folder. For more information, see About Forma Data Management Permissions and Data Shortcuts.

Note: To avoid issues when creating a Civil 3D data shortcut project later, a project template should not include the _Shortcuts folder. If a _Shortcuts folder is included in the template and is copied to a new project, it may cause issues when creating the new data shortcut project from within Civil 3D in the Forma Data Management project.