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Work with the Layout Browser

The Factory Design Layout Browser serves as a direct-access point to access your recently used layouts, to open, and create layouts in Inventor and AutoCAD. You can also open your Factory layouts from a Layout Browser in Navisworks.

Important: It's highly recommended that you access your Factory Design layouts through the Layout Browser to keep your design data well connected and current.

Open the Layout Browser

To access the new Layout Browser, go to the Factory ribbon > Tools panel > Palettes menu > and select Layout Browser from the list of options.

You can also access the Layout Browser by clicking the icon on the Quick Access Toolbar located above your Inventor or AutoCAD ribbon.

Tooltips display the location of your layout

In the Recent Layouts list in the Layout Browser, you can hover over a layout node to view a tooltip that displays the path to that layout on your network or local drive.

To open a LayoutData file

Open layouts and access recently used layouts using the Factory Layout Browser to keep your Factory Design data current.

To open your layout or access a recent layout in Inventor, AutoCAD, or Navisworks:

  1. On the AutoCAD or Inventor ribbon, click Palettes to expose the menu options.
  2. In Navisworks, on the Factory ribbon, click the Layout Browser command.

  1. Select Layout Browser from the menu.
  2. Click Select an Option to expose the drop-down menu.
  3. Select Open Layout or another available options to Open Layout from Vault, Create Layout, or Create Layout from Template.

  1. Browse to, and select the LayoutData file you would like to work in.
  2. Click Open.

You can also access the right-click context menu in the Recent Layouts list to Open a layout, remove a file from the list, or open the file location of a layout.

Note: If you copy the LayoutData file during Copy Design, design errors will occur the next time you open your layout. To prevent these errors, do not copy the LayoutData file. If the LayoutData file is copied, you can simply delete the LayoutData file and the next time you open your layout through one of the CAD applications, a new LayoutData file is created for you automatically.

To create a new LayoutData file:

The LayoutData file is automatically created for you. If ever you need to create a new one, you can follow these simple steps:

  1. Open the AutoCAD or Inventor file.
  2. Save the file.

A LayoutData file is created and can now be accessed through the Layout Browser.

Next steps: About Connecting Assets

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