Sharing Custom Content Using Workgroup Folders

When Vectorworks Design Series is installed, you can create a workgroup environment, to share one or more folders of custom content files on a network with coworkers. These files might contain content that will be used by all users (such as templates, symbols, export settings, or workspaces). Alternatively they might contain custom content specific to different projects. Each user who needs access to those files can then designate that shared network folder as a workgroup folder in his or her Vectorworks Preferences, so that the custom content will be available in the Vectorworks program.

You can manually add files to the workgroup Libraries folder, to access custom resource libraries such as symbols and hatches from the Files list in the Resource Browser. You can also have custom resources display as default content in dialog boxes and palettes. See Resource Libraries for more information. For details about where to put files and how to name them, see Sharing Custom Files with a Workgroup.

Designating Workgroup Folders

1. Select Tools > Options > Vectorworks Preferences, and then click the User Folders tab.

Parameter	Description
User Data and Preferences Folder	Specifies the folder that contains Vectorworks preferences, log files, workspaces, and any personal content you create. This might be a folder on the local computer, or on a USB drive or network drive; this allows you to run the Vectorworks program from any computer. For more information about user folders, see User Folders Preferences.
Choose	Click Choose to change the user data folder. The Vectorworks program must be restarted if you change the location of the user data. See User Data and Preferences Folder for details.
Explore (Windows) or Reveal in Finder (Mac)	To look at the contents of the current folder, click Explore (to open Windows Explorer) or click Reveal in Finder (to open Mac Finder)
Workgroup and Project Folders	Specifies the folders where the Vectorworks program will look for additional content, such as office standard files, shared project files, and workgroup reference files. This might be a shared folder on a network drive, or a project-specific folder on the local computer. Folders are searched in order from the top of the list to bottom; if multiple files with the same name are found, only the first version of the file is shown in the program. To change the position of a folder, click in the # column and drag the folder up or down in the list.
Add	Opens a dialog box to select a folder to add to the list
Remove	Deletes the selected folder from the list
Explore (Windows) or Reveal in Finder (Mac)	Displays the contents of the selected folder in either Windows Explorer or Mac Finder

To easily access a workgroup folder, use the file list in the Resource Browser. See Accessing Existing Resources for more information.

Sharing Custom Files with a Workgroup

To share custom content with a workgroup, create a main workgroup folder in a shared location. Within the folder, create a subfolder that matches the standard Vectorworks program subfolder for that type of data (Libraries, Plug-Ins, Settings, or Workspaces). If necessary, create additional subfolders within those folders (for example, Libraries\Defaults\Templates or Libraries\Defaults\Space\Space - Space Name).

Do not modify the Plant Database subfolder, if present. Place custom plant symbols in one of the plant library subfolders (in the Libraries\Defaults folder).

To access the shared content, another Vectorworks user simply designates the main folder as a workgroup folder in his or her Vectorworks Preferences. Here are some examples of possible workgroup folder content:

● Master files from which design layers, classes, and resources can be referenced

● Resource libraries (for gradients, hatches, line types, record formats, Renderworks textures, slab styles, symbols, text styles, tiles, VectorScripts, wall styles, and worksheets)

Sharing Custom Resource Libraries

When the Vectorworks program presents content in a palette or dialog box, it includes content from the user and workgroup folders as well as the content it ships with. For example, when you select Modify > Hatch to edit a hatch, the Hatches dialog box shows default hatches from the Vectorworks folder (where the software is installed), your user folder, and any workgroup folders you have designated.

If the same file name exists in more than one folder, only the content from one of the files is shown in the Vectorworks program, according to the following priority: user folder, workgroup folder, application folder. For example, if the following files exist, only hatches from the file in the user folder show in the hatch list in the Attributes palette in the Vectorworks program.

Therefore, the name of your custom library file affects content availability in the Vectorworks program.

● To totally supersede the Vectorworks default hatches, use the same name as the hatch file in the Vectorworks program folder (“Hatches_Default.vwx”).

● To make your custom hatches available along with the Vectorworks default hatches, use a unique name, such as “Custom_Hatches.”

To share a custom library, create a library file and put the file on the network in a workgroup folder. The folder structure must be the same as that of the Vectorworks default content. For example, to add a custom hatch library, place the file in your workgroup default hatch folder: [Workgroup]\Libraries\Defaults\Attributes - Hatches.

If the same resource name exists in two default files (that have different names), the resource list in Vectorworks shows both resources, and includes the file name. For example, on the Attributes palette you might see two hatches named “Brick (Custom_Hatches.vwx)” and “Brick (Hatches_Default.vwx).” You can use both hatches in a drawing, but after you import the first one, you are prompted to either replace the first one, or rename the second one.

To make the custom library resources available from the Resource Browser only (not as defaults in dialog boxes and palettes), place the file in a Favorites folder in a workgroup folder. See Using Favorites Files. This method of sharing resources is more flexible, because users can choose either to import the resource, or reference it (see Referencing Resources).