By Dennis Collin
Whilst talking to AutoCAD users I often ask how they keep track of their drawing files. Typically, they answer that they just use Microsoft’s Windows Explorer. This can be quite challenging in a real-world environment when projects can contain multiple drawing sheets, containing ten, dozens or even hundreds of files per project. It is all too easy for example to accidently drag a file to an unexpected location or even over to the recycle bin! I sometimes get asked doesn’t AutoCAD have some kind of project manager where settings and properties are just handled by one sheet or file, where files could be created, modified, plotted, and issued to clients?
The answer is of course YES! Use AutoCAD’s Sheet Set Manager!
In a typical conventional project setup, a projects directory is created on a server which contains several project directories, which in turn contain additional sub-directories. Things can get more complicated and potential mistakes can occur when additional or new team members access these files, modify, and save them. We are then reliant on those users to follow practice conventions on directory management, document numbering and versioning, and being saved back to the server in the proper location.
Since AutoCAD 2000, AutoCAD can contain multiple page layouts within each drawing file. Renumbering any of those pages or sheets can cause complications throughout the rest of the project and effort must be made crosschecking sheets to avoid typo errors or duplicate numbering.
Plotting all the sheets within an AutoCAD project can be time consuming, especially if done individually. The same can be said with the process of etransmitting drawings to clients. However, all these tasks can be simplified with the Sheet Set Manager. Many of the required commands can be easily accessed with a simple right click!
This environment was introduced way back with the 2005 release of AutoCAD. The manager front end allows users to quickly open files, add sheets, print, archive and transmit some or all a projects’ drawing files electronically.
As all design team members will use the same Sheet Set File, there is only one file to consider verses the dozens of sheets or potentially hundreds of ‘mode’ files. The Sheet Set file resides inside the main project folder and holds project specific information that will be used by attribute fields by drawing sheets as well as project specific blocks, labels, and templates.
Sheet Sets tie into AutoCAD’s existing command set and makes it easier for users to access project templates, external reference files, named saved views and AutoCAD’s Publish (Batch Plot facility)
Whilst these commands can be used without Sheet Sets, they do complement each other and can be employed to improve an office’s drawing productivity. If you’re an AutoCAD LT user reading this, read on as for the past several years the Sheet Set Manager environment has been available for AutoCAD LT too!
Over the next few weeks, I will go through the benefits and concepts relating to Sheet Set Manager, how it works and the benefits it provides any office using AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT.