Synchronize Your Workspace

When you get or check out files, files are copied from the vault to your local working folder or workspace. Over time, your workspace may accumulate files that are no longer necessary or stray files that are not meant to be managed by a vault. Use the Workspace Sync command to clean unnecessary files from the workspace and keep it up to date.

The Workspace Sync command compares the contents of the workspace with the contents of the corresponding vault to verify which files need to be updated either in the workspace or in the vault and which files need to be removed from the workspace. Depending on your settings, the last modified date, the current revision, or the current revision with released biased is used to determine whether or not a file needs to be updated.

By adjusting synchronization settings, you can specify:

There are two modes for synchronizing your workspace:

Note: Mapping multiple vaults to the same working folder is not supported.

Synchronize Your Workspace

There are three modes for synchronizing your workspace:

Workspace Sync

Specify advanced settings and select particular files to synchronize by following these steps.

  1. From the Workspace Sync drop-down menu, select Workspace Sync.
  2. The Workspace Synchronization dialog is displayed. The local workspace is scanned before synchronizing to determine which files need to be updated or removed.
  3. In the Workspace Synchronization Wizard, the files to be synchronized are displayed. You specify which files are synchronized using the check boxes. Turn on a check box to include a file in the synchronization process. Turn off a check box to exclude a file from the synchronization process. The total number of files to be removed and the total number of files to be downloaded are displayed at the bottom of the wizard.
    • Download - New: if the parent of a file is updated and the new version or revision uses a file that is not in the local workspace, the file not in the local workspace is retrieved from the vault.
    • Download - Overwrite: the files that are currently in the local workspace and will be updated with new versions or revisions from the vault, depending on your settings. If the local file is currently locked because it is open for editing, it will not be overwritten.
    • Expired - Unmanaged: the files that are in the local workspace but are not being managed by the vault and have not been modified within the expiration time frame specified in the Workspace Sync Settings dialog.
    • Expired - Managed: the files that are in the local workspace and managed by the vault that have not been modified within the expiration time frame specified in the Workspace Sync Settings dialog.
    • Expired - Hidden: the hidden visualization files that are in the local workspace and managed by the vault that have not been modified within the expiration time frame specified in the Workspace Sync Settings dialog.
    Note: Removed files are placed in the Windows Recycle Bin.
  4. Click Settings to specify update preferences, which file extensions to delete, and expiration rules.
  5. Click Finish. The local workspace is synchronized using the specified settings.
  6. When the synchronization is complete, the results are summarized in a report. The report lists those files which were successfully downloaded and those which were successfully removed, as well as the files which unsuccessfully synchronized.
  7. You can choose to generate a report as a (.csv) file and save it locally or in the vault, or print it by performing one of these options:
    • To save the report locally, click Save. On the Save As dialog, navigate to the folder structure where you want to store the file locally. Enter a name for the report and click Save.
    • To save the report in a vault, Click Send to Vault to display a list of vault folders. Select the vault in which you want the report saved, enter a name for the report, and click Save.
    • To print the report, click Print and specify your printing options.
  8. Click Close.

Quick Sync

You can synchronize files immediately using the default settings by following these steps.

  1. From the Workspace Sync drop-down menu, select Quick Sync.
  2. The Workspace Synchronization dialog is displayed. The local workspace is scanned before synchronizing to determine which files need to be updated or removed. If a large number of files need to be updated, you are warned that continuing may impact server performance. Click Yes to continue with Quick Sync or click No to cancel the operation.
  3. The synchronization is performed using the default settings.
  4. Click Cancel to stop the Quick Sync at any time.
  5. If any files failed to be synchronized, the results are summarized in a report. The report lists those files which were successfully downloaded and those which were successfully removed, as well as the files which unsuccessfully synchronized. Click Report to create a commas separated value (.csv) file of the report. Click Print to print the summary.

Synchronize Your Workspace from the Command Line

You can run workspace synchronization from the command line. Using the command line, you can create a script or an event in Windows Task Scheduler to automate workspace synchronization.

Note: By default, the file delete option is suppressed when synchronizing your workspace from the command line. This is to prevent any inadvertent loss of data. To enable file delete via the command line, you must edit the XML file and enable this functionality: 
"<StandAloneOnlySettingDeleteFiles>=True
  1. Click Windows Start > Run, and then enter cmd in the Run dialog box.
  2. Change directories to the install directory for Autodesk Vault. By default, this path is C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Autodesk Vault [version]\Explorer.
  3. At the command line, type: Connectivity.WorkspaceSync.exe followed by the command line options, and then press Enter.

    Command

    Details

    -WA

    Use Windows authentication to log into the Vault server (optional).

    -Nserver\databasename

    The name of the server and the database to be synchronized (required).

    -VUusername

    The user name of the vault account. (This flag is optional if Windows authentication is used. It is required if the Windows authentication flag is not used).

    -VPpassword

    The vault account password (required unless password is blank).

    -S

    The full path to a valid synchronization settings file (optional). The synchronization settings file specifies the syncrhonization options. For more information on exporting a settings file, see Specify Workspace Sync Settings.

    -F

    The full path and file name for a report file (optional). The synchronization summary is written to the report file. If the report file already exists, the summary is appended to the contents of the existing file.

    Examples

    • Connectivity.WorkspaceSync.exe -Ndmserver\Vault -WA -S"C:\Synchronization Settings\Settings.xml" -FC:\temp\SyncReport.csv
    • Connectivity.WorkspaceSync.exe -Ndmserver\Vault -VUbkeaton -VPg3nEral27-S"C:\Synchronization Settings\Settings.xml" -FC:\temp\SyncReport.csv
    Note: Paths containing spaces must be inside of double quotes (for example, "C:\Synchronization Settings\Settings.xml").

Specify Synchronization Settings

The Settings dialog for the Workspace Synchronization wizard enables you to specify defaults for workspace synchronization. The synchronization settings are saved per user, per vault.

The Update file in Workspace area lets you determine whether you want to update files to the latest version, current revision, or current revision with released bias.

Update Options

Note: If a file has multiple parents within the data that is downloaded, and each parent specifies a different revision of the file, the latest revision level is used.

The Auto-delete Filters list defines the file type filters for automatically deleting certain file types during synchronization. Use these filters to remove extraneous files from your workspace that do not need to be managed by a vault, for example, log files and backup files.

The Expiration Settings enable you to specify a time frame for determining unused files. Files that have not been used within the time frame specified will be removed from the local workspace. You can specify expiration dates for files that are managed by the vault and for files that are not managed by a vault. A file is considered "expired" if it has not been modified within the time frame specified.

Specify Workspace Sync Settings

You can specify your Workspace Sync settings to suit your personal work environment.
  • In the Workspace Synchronization wizard, click Settings. 

Update file in Workspace

The Update file in Workspace area lets you determine whether you want to update files to the latest version, current revision, or current revision with released bias.

  1. Select one of the following update options:
    • Latest Version
    • Current Revision
  2. If you select Current Revision, select the Released Bias check box to favor released revisions over non-released ones when performing a synchronization.

Auto-delete Filters

You can specify which file types that are not managed by the vault are automatically deleted from the workspace. Any file in the working folder matching the file extensions specified will be deleted during synchronization. Two filters are supplied and turned off by default: Log Files (.log) and Acad Backup Files (.bak, ac$).

  1. Click Add to create a new delete filter.
  2. A new filter named New Delete Filter is added to the list and turned on by default.
  3. In the Filter Name field, enter a name for the filter.
  4. In the Extensions field, specify which file extensions are associated with the filter. Separate multiple extensions with commas.
  5. When activated, the file types specified by the filter will be deleted automatically during synchronization. Turn on the check box next to a filter to activate the filter. Turn off the check box next to a filter to turn of the filter.
  6. To remove a filter from the list, select a filter and the click Remove.
Note: A file that would be deleted as a result of an auto-delete filter will not be deleted from a folder if the override is set to Never.

Expiration Settings

You can set expiration criteria for both files managed by a vault and for files in the workspace that are not managed by a vault.

  1. Turn on the Managed Files check box to apply expiration criteria to files in the local workspace that are managed by the vault.
  2. Specify a quantity and a duration to determine expired files. Select either days or weeks for the duration.
  3. Turn on the Unmanaged Files check box to apply expiration criteria to files in the local workspace that are not managed by the vault. Select either days or weeks for the duration.
    Note: If the duration is set to 0, the expiration time frame is immediate.

Expiration Overrides

The expiration settings apply to all managed and un-managed files in the local workspace. Expiration overrides can be set for specific files and folders for more focused expiration criteria.

  1. Click Add Files to select specific files for which expiration overrides will be set. Click Add Folder to select a specific folder for which expiration overrides will be set. The selected files and folders are displayed in the override list. Select a file or folder from the overrides list and then click Remove to remove the entry from the list.
  2. For folders and individual files, you can specify a different duration and time frame from the global expiration settings. Select Never from the Units drop-down menu to prevent the file or folder from ever expiring.
Note: A file that would be deleted as a result of an auto-delete filter will not be deleted from a folder if the override is set to Never.

Remove Empty Folders

  • Turn on the Remove empty folders check box to delete a folder from the local workspace once the last file from it has been removed as a result of synchronizing files.

Export or Import Synchronization Settings

Synchronization settings can be exported to an .xml file as well as imported from an .xml file. The settings file can then be imported by other users or specified when running workpsace synchronization from the command line.

  • Click Export settings to save the current settings in an .xml file. In the Save As dialog, specify a file name and location for the settings file and then click Save.
  • Click Import settings to open a workspace synchronization settings .xml file. In the Open dialog, select the .xml file to import and then click Open.
Parent topic: Manage the Working Folder