Managing thousands of drawings.

[Levi Mitchell]

Guys, I know this topic has probably been beaten to death. I'm a solidworks
user, the engineer that I work for has thrown a seat of autocad at me and a
project that he's got to organize thousands of drawings of a local factory.
right now, they're just in windows folders and scatered from hell to
breakfast. I've got to seperate all of the electrical drawings from the
facility, plumbing, pid, etc... Then organize them all into an easy to use
system. I know there are ways that I can organize this and make it easy to
access ( MS Access, Excell) but how is it done with autocad? I'm using
2004. Any help in the right direction would be awesome. From there I can
figure it out I'm sure.

Thanks Greatly,
Levi

[clintonG]

Its done with AutoCAD the same way it is done with any other
asset that has been mismanaged: one file at a time must be opened,
asessed and evaluated, renamed and archived. You will have an
especially good time learning and managing external reference files.

If I were you I would also go into the 'official' Autodesk newsgroups
notably pn.cadmanager to ask others how they have managed
this sort of task.

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher, "Twice the Results -- Half the Cost"
Architectural & e-Business Consulting -- Software Development
NET csgallagher@REMOVETHISTEXTmetromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/





"Levi Mitchell" <levi@cyberfezdotcom> wrote in message
news:10in4lkc8betf3b@corp.supernews.com... Guys, I know this topic has probably been beaten to death. I'm a
solidworks user, the engineer that I work for has thrown a seat of autocad at me and
a project that he's got to organize thousands of drawings of a local
factory. right now, they're just in windows folders and scatered from hell to breakfast. I've got to seperate all of the electrical drawings from the facility, plumbing, pid, etc... Then organize them all into an easy to use system. I know there are ways that I can organize this and make it easy
to access ( MS Access, Excell) but how is it done with autocad? I'm using 2004. Any help in the right direction would be awesome. From there I can figure it out I'm sure. Thanks Greatly, Levi

[Levi Mitchell]

I've received several replies, thanks for all of the info!! I guess
basically what I was looking for was some kind of data management tool like
PDMworks is to Solidworks. Turns out that when the client stated that they
wanted their drawings organized, they meant that they didn't want to spend
any money, change anything, go about anything differently etc. It's a waste
of my time. I'm just going to move everything into three folders labeled:
PID, Controls, Everything Else.
"Levi Mitchell" <levi@cyberfezdotcom> wrote in message
news:10in4lkc8betf3b@corp.supernews.com... Guys, I know this topic has probably been beaten to death. I'm a
solidworks user, the engineer that I work for has thrown a seat of autocad at me and
a project that he's got to organize thousands of drawings of a local
factory. right now, they're just in windows folders and scatered from hell to breakfast. I've got to seperate all of the electrical drawings from the facility, plumbing, pid, etc... Then organize them all into an easy to use system. I know there are ways that I can organize this and make it easy
to access ( MS Access, Excell) but how is it done with autocad? I'm using 2004. Any help in the right direction would be awesome. From there I can figure it out I'm sure. Thanks Greatly, Levi

[Levi Mitchell]

I've received several replies, thanks for all of the info!! I guess
basically what I was looking for was some kind of data management tool like
PDMworks is to Solidworks. Turns out that when the client stated that they
wanted their drawings organized, they meant that they didn't want to spend
any money, change anything, go about anything differently etc. It's a waste
of my time. I'm just going to move everything into three folders labeled:
PID, Controls, Everything Else.
"Levi Mitchell" <levi@cyberfezdotcom> wrote in message
news:10in4lkc8betf3b@corp.supernews.com... Guys, I know this topic has probably been beaten to death. I'm a
solidworks user, the engineer that I work for has thrown a seat of autocad at me and
a project that he's got to organize thousands of drawings of a local
factory. right now, they're just in windows folders and scatered from hell to breakfast. I've got to seperate all of the electrical drawings from the facility, plumbing, pid, etc... Then organize them all into an easy to use system. I know there are ways that I can organize this and make it easy
to access ( MS Access, Excell) but how is it done with autocad? I'm using 2004. Any help in the right direction would be awesome. From there I can figure it out I'm sure. Thanks Greatly, Levi

[Sporkman]

Levi Mitchell wrote: I've received several replies, thanks for all of the info!! I guess basically what I was looking for was some kind of data management tool like PDMworks is to Solidworks. Turns out that when the client stated that they wanted their drawings organized, they meant that they didn't want to spend any money, change anything, go about anything differently etc. It's a waste of my time. I'm just going to move everything into three folders labeled: PID, Controls, Everything Else.

Welcome to the wonderful world of consulting. :-)
If they do any software development they may have software configuration
management software. Most of that works as well for non-linked files as
would PDMWorks. They would just have to teach their mechanical guys how
to use it . . . maybe not like falling off a log.

'Sporky'

[Norbert Grund]

On Tue, 24 Aug 2004 13:10:44 -0600, "Levi Mitchell"
<levi@cyberfezdotcom> wrote:
Then organize them all into an easy to use system.

Columbus : http://www.oasys-software.com/product/dm/columbus/

free for personal use

great viewers (which normally have tu be payed)

hth
N.