Best Practices working with Desktop Connector Version 16.x

Topics in this Section

• Overview
• Desktop Connector Best Practices Video Tutorials
• Ensuring Constant Visibility of Sync Status
• Why Select Projects?
• Navigating the New Home Screen
• Uploading Files and References
• Understanding Status and Syncing Icons
• Tray Icons
• File Explorer Icons
• Changes in File Explorer Behavior Between v15.x and v16.x
• Move/Copy Behavior and Deletions

Overview

Desktop Connector Best Practices Video Tutorials

The videos titled Desktop Connector Tray Icon and Recovering Deleted Items in Desktop Connector are prominently featured at the top of this page. However, it is crucial to also review the rest of the content on this page as it includes additional features and enhancements that are not covered in the videos.

Ensuring Constant Visibility of Sync Status

Once you have installed Desktop Connector, a tray icon will be added to the overflow area of the Windows taskbar as shown.

• After installing Desktop Connector, a tray icon is added to the Windows taskbar's overflow area. We recommend moving this icon to the main status bar for constant visibility of your file sync progress.

  

• To move the icon to the main status bar area, left click and drag the icon to the desired location in the status bar. Once the tray icon is visible, left click it to view the Desktop Connector Home Screen. From the Home Screen you can access new and previous menu options previously available directly from the tray icon.

  

For additional information on the Windows taskbar refer to the Microsoft support article Customize the taskbar notification area.

Why Select Projects?

When you first sign in to a version 16.x of Desktop Connector , you will be asked to make your initial project selection. This change was made to help speed up the process of accessing your data in Autodesk Docs. By adding only the projects you need, you can better manage your local storage space.

To select your projects, follow these steps:

1. Click on a Hub to view the relevant projects.

2. Select your Projects (you can select up to 80 projects).

3. Click

   

Navigating the New Home Screen

The home screen in Desktop Connector is the main display where all your connected drives are shown. It allows you to access multiple supported data sources (that is Docs, Fusion, and Drive). The Home Screen replaces the Pending Actions dialog of versions 15.x.

• To switch between seeing different activity by connector, click on the header drop-down as shown in the following image.

  

• It is important to regularly check the home screen as it displays activities within Desktop Connector. Here, you can see the syncing status of projects, files, and folders. It is also where you can see more details about errors.

  

Uploading Files and References

In v15.x, the standard behavior was that adding a file would also bring along all of its references. The user feedback was that this default behavior made workflows slow and inefficient. For 16.x, we changed this behavior to be more in line with tools like OneDrive, where you add one file and only that file gets uploaded.

To help users who still want to upload files with references, we have introduced the Upload Files and References Tool. The Upload Files and References Tool enables you to add design files and view all their gathered references and related data before uploading to the cloud. Here is how to access it:

1. Right-click the Desktop Connector tray icon

2. Click Upload Files and References in the menu.

3. You can add files in the following objects:

   • An individual folder
   • Multiple folders
   • A combination of files and folders
   • A single file
   • Multiple files: You can only add multiple files from the same parent folder

4. Browse to your local data location (Select all of the files you want to upload)

5. Select your cloud location in Autodesk Docs

6. Select

   

   • Your files will now be uploaded to Desktop connector and synced to the cloud.

   

Understanding Status and Syncing Icons

Status icons provide a quick way to understand the status and health of your files and folders in Desktop Connector. They are present on the Tray icon and in File Explorer. The Home Screen also has icons accompanied by additional written details.

Tray Icons

Icon	Description
	Desktop Connector is starting up
	Desktop Connector is processing changes The tray icon color depends on your version of Desktop Connector.
	Desktop Connector is Online
	Desktop Connector is offline or you are not Signed in
	Desktop Connector experienced an error while processing. Check for errors directly in the home screen in the Docs Connector, or by clicking View Details in the Drive and Fusion Connectors to see Pending Actions. or Desktop Connector requires an Update. You will need to update to the latest version of Desktop Connector to continue using your connector

File Explorer Icons

Icon	Description	Display Information
	Processing	Changes to the local file are updating
	Always keep on this device	The file or folder will automatically update with the latest file versions from the cloud if always keep on this device is selected
	Downloaded	A version of the file is downloaded on demand. The file will automatically update when a new version is added to the cloud if always keep on this device is NOT selected
	Online	The file has not been downloaded locally. The file will be downloaded on demand
	Locked by you	You have locked the file. Other members can open the file as read-only, however, they cannot modify its contents while it is locked
	Locked by another member	This file is locked by another project member. You can open the file as read-only, however, you can't edit the content of the file while it's locked

Changes in File Explorer Behavior Between v15.x and v16.x

The following changes are for the Autodesk Docs Connector only.

Desktop Connector and the Docs web folders have a 1:1 relationship. Deleting a file or folder on the desktop or in the cloud will result in a deletion from the local workspace and in the cloud. That being said, in most cases you can recover these from the Deleted Items area of Docs.

Move/Copy Behavior and Deletions

1. At this time, Desktop Connector 16.x versions can no longer block users from moving, renaming, or deleting folders representing the Autodesk Docs Account/Hub, Project, and Project files in File Explorer. Warning: Doing so while Desktop Connector is running may result in data being deleted in Autodesk Docs.

2. The default command when dragging and dropping files/folders in Desktop Connector 16.x is now “Move”, matching the default behavior when using Windows File Explorer. Moving files or folders from the Autodesk Docs Connector to a location on your local machine (that is, Desktop, Documents, etc.), that is not managed by Desktop Connector, will result in data being deleted from the cloud.

   • Essentially you have told Desktop Connector to move the data to the new location and remove it from Autodesk Docs.
   Tip:

   It is recommended to hold the Control (CTRL) key when performing a drag and drop to make certain a copy of the data is made instead of moving it. When using Desktop Connector 15.x versions, the default behavior for a drag and drop was “Copy”.

• The following images highlight the differences when using File Explorer (drag and drop) with Desktop Connector versions 15.x and 16.x. The example shows the behavior when dragging and dropping a file from Desktop Connector to your local desktop.

  

  

Related Concepts:

• How to recover deleted files or folders in BIM 360 Document Management or Autodesk Docs
• Desktop Connector v16.x FAQ
• Upgrading from v15.x to v16.x as an Individual (Non Admin) User