How to keep your network file server as a backup

When you are up and running with GrabCAD Workbench, your Workbench account will be the central file repository for your whole team, and each team member will have a local copy of all the project files that is kept up to date through the  Desktop App. If you had previously a Windows server computer to share files with your team, you will no longer be reading or writing files to that directory, as changes are saved locally and synced with the Workbench project on the cloud. However, you may want to keep your server active as a backup. Here's how:

If you are just getting started:

1

Start by organizing the files on your sever into folders separated by project. For best results, put all common parts in one folder. To make sure references are up to date, you can do a  pack-and-go on your assemblies, and after you establish a folder for the common parts, you can  let your CAD system know this directory is a library folder. 

2

The admin of your account should add a general access user to the account for the server. Use an email address that multiple people can access. Go to the  account page and in the Users tab, click "Add new users."

3

Install the  Workbench Desktop App onto the server and log in using the general access user. This will create a GrabCAD folder on the server.

4

Now you will create projects and upload your files. The easiest way is to move all of the folders from step 1 into the GrabCAD folder. Then in the Desktop App, click the green Connect button for each project. 

5

If you do not want to move the folders, you can create manual connections. Go to the main menu in the Desktop App and select "Manually connect to project." At the top, click "Create new project" and enter a name corresponding to the folder to be linked and click "Create." This project will now be at the top of the list for manual connecting projects, and when you hover your mouse over the project, you can see the green "Link to folder" button. Use this to find the corresponding folder for the project. 

6

Note: If you are using a  common parts library project, create this project first and upload all the files. Before uploading any other projects, let the common parts complete uploading, then go to the project online and enable the  setting for Common Parts Library. 

7

Once the files are uploaded to the account, go to the  settings menu in the Desktop App and enable server mode. 

8

Now add your team members to the appropriate project. This is easiest for the account admin to achieve by going to the Users tab of the account page, clicking the checkbox next to the team member's names and clicking the "Add to projects" button. To configure different user roles for each user on each project, users must be added individually to each project. 

9

Each user will then get in sync with their working local directory. After downloading the Desktop App and choosing a location on their local computer for the GrabCAD folder, they can connect to the projects and download the files. 

If the connection is very slow or there is an extremely large number of files, you can cancel the download that begins automatically when you hit the Connect button and copy the files from the server to the appropriate folder in your local GrabCAD folder. After a moment, the Desktop App should recognize that the files in the project match the files you have locally, and you should be up to date. This shortcut method is only recommended for the initial project setup. 

If download speeds are slow in general, consider using  peer-to-peer mode. Since the server will download all changes as soon as they are available, other users on the network who download afterwards will see much faster download speeds as a result. 

Please note that if new projects are created, someone must access the Desktop App on the server and hit the green Connect button. 

If you have already set up your projects on GrabCAD:

All you need to do is get the projects in sync with the server computer and enable server mode. 

1

First, the account admin must add a general access user to the account and invite them to join each project as a collaborator or project owner. Go to the  account page and in the Users tab, click "Add new users."

2

Install the  Workbench Desktop App onto the server and log in using the general access user. Use an email address that multiple people can access. This will create a GrabCAD folder on the server.

3

Connect to each project and download all the files.

4

In the  settings menu, enable server mode.

If the connection is very slow or there is an extremely large number of files, you can cancel the download that begins automatically when you hit the Connect button and copy the files from the server to the appropriate folder in your local GrabCAD folder. After a moment, the Desktop App should recognize that the files in the project match the files you have locally, and you should be up to date. This shortcut method is only recommended for the initial project setup. 

If download speeds are slow in general, consider using  peer-to-peer mode. Since the server will download all changes as soon as they are available, other users on the network who download afterwards will see much faster download speeds as a result. 

Please note that if new projects are created, someone must access the Desktop App on the server and hit the green Connect button.