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Project Sharing is a multiuser environment that streamlines project management and execution. It was developed to help Vectorworks users manage projects involving multiple users, fostering effective collaboration and communication within a project team. Project Sharing is a single-file structure providing a mechanism that allows multiple users to work within - and access parts of - a file, simultaneously. In this article, we will show you how to set up a project sharing file and the do’s and don’ts of the project sharing workflow. To make a Project Sharing file: First, start by going to File > Project Sharing within the document you wish to make the .vwxp or Project Sharing File. We recommend having the file already saved in the proper shared location before making it into a project sharing file. (Example: A unique folder in the desired cloud or server. This folder will exist to host the project sharing master file and nothing else) The Project File (the .vwxp file) should be placed on a server or a shared network location that is accessible by all team members. This means that all team members must have full access to the server. They must be able to read, write, rename, delete, create, etc. to the folder on the server or shared network location in which the Project File is kept. This is necessary for when check outs, releases, commits, and refreshes occur. Once you have confirmed this file is saved in its own folder on the cloud or server, you can begin. The first step in the process is to determine which network protocol this file will be shared with. You can choose SMB or AFP, (Do NOT use a mixture of SMB and AFP structures.) We recommend keeping the option “Automatically open a Working File after setup is complete” checked. This will automatically create a working file after completion. A working file is a local copy of a Project File specific to the user who has created it. The Working File is used to add to, subtract from, or modify the Project File. In essence, all modeling and drawing creation is done in a Working File and then is committed back to the Project File. A Working File is designated with the file extension .vwxw. When a Working File is open, the title bar on the file will include WORKING FILE to indicate that you are currently in a Working File (FIGURE 2). The Working File is kept on the hard drive of your local computer. Select “Next >” to proceed to the next step: Here, you will be given the chance to add users to the project file and determine permissions. Management in Project Sharing is done through a robust, permission-based system with options to control access and rights among the design team. Team members are granted specific types of access to either layers (design and sheet layers), or to an object or groups of objects. They can check out those layers or objects, work on them, and then check them back in. Vectorworks communicates the status of the changes being made by project members along the way, keeping the entire team informed during the project. Users can be added by selecting the “Add” button. When you add a user, it will take you to the new user dialog: Here is where you can put in the username (typically resembles the username of the machine being used) and the user’s full name. Choose a color to uniquely identify the user and then choose their permission clearance. Here are the following permission levels: ADMINISTRATIVE The Administrative permission level essentially has no restrictions. This permission is automatically assigned to the person who first creates the Project File. Exclusive to this permission level is the ability to manage the project sharing settings (such as Project File backup policies) and the ability to add, delete, and edit the users on the project. The administrator will also have the ability to do an administrative release if needed. It is highly recommended that there be more than one Administrative user on each project as a backup policy. This can be an office-wide BIM or CAD manager along with the project’s model manager PROJECT The Project permission level is the least restrictive level in the project (aside from Administrative). This includes the ability to change and commit document preferences and settings. Project permission is also required to create, edit, and delete references that are being used. This permission level is also necessary to create and delete classes. LAYERS AND RESOURCES The Layers and Resources permission level is needed to create, edit, and delete resources. This includes, symbols, textures, wall styles, slab styles, etc. Resources that do not require this permission level to create and edit include worksheets, records, scripts, and script palettes. A person with this permission level can also create, edit, and delete dimension standards within the document preferences. LAYERS-UNRESTRICTED Aside from the ability to create, edit, and delete layers, this permission level also allows you to commit saved views back to the Project File allowing others to access these views. This permission level or a higher permission is needed to create, edit, delete, and commit publish sets and batch render jobs. Lower permission levels can access publish sets and batch render jobs but cannot create them or commit them to the Project File. LAYERS-RESTRICTED The Layers-Restricted permission level allows you to create, edit, and delete objects and information on layers that already exist in the Project File. Resources that can be created, edited, and deleted with this permission level include worksheets, scripts, and script palettes. It is important to note that this permission level allows you to create saved views, working planes, and edit any unrestricted document preferences so that you can continue to work in your Working File as you like. These types of changes or additions, however, will not be committed to the Project File. READ ONLY As indicted by the name, the Read Only permission level only allows you to navigate through the file. You can access and view all objects, layers, and information, as well as update out-of-date viewports. You can change layer and class visibility in your Working File but cannot commit these changes. This permission level does allow you to publish drawings and run export commands. If a team member is attempting to complete an operation for which they do not have the proper permission level, a dialog box will appear. This dialog box will inform them of what permission level is required to complete the operation. Select “Next >” to proceed to the next step: In this window, you will be given the chance to determine which layers will be considered “Master layers”. MASTER LAYER A designated, special layer that changes infrequently over the life of a project. A master layer may contain critical information that should not be changed or overwritten. An example of such a layer may be a design layer that holds a project’s structural grid. You can have multiple master layers in a project. Select “Next >” to proceed to the next step: The next window will allow you to determine how the project sharing file will be backed up. Chose the default option to create an automatic backup folder in the same location as the Project File or choose a custom location and save the backup folder in an easy to remember location. Once you have determined the frequency and the number of backups you need, select “Finish”. This will automatically take you to your new “Working File”. You can read any additional information regarding project sharing at the following link: https://university.vectorworks.net/mod/scorm/player.php?a=20&currentorg=articulate_rise&scoid=40 Do’s and Don’ts of Project Sharing: When Creating the Project File Do NOT use a mixture of SMB and AFP structures. You must have full read/write/delete/rename access permissions to the project folder, subfolders, and Project Files. Everyone working on the project must be using the same version of Vectorworks. If your VPN is slow, it will take time for Working Files to Update to Project Files and visa versa. Important Note: Vectorworks does not support using a virtual machine with Project Sharing. Vectorworks Cloud Services If using Cloud Services you must at least be running 2021 Service Pack 4. If using Cloud Services the desktop Cloud app must be running. Access your files through the local folder or the Cloud App. Share files using the correct permissions. Save your Working File to your local hard drive. Dropbox If using Dropbox, the Dropbox app must be up-to-date. Do NOT save your Working File on Dropbox. RULES Do NOT rename the Project File Do NOT move your Project File or rename folders that contain your Project File. Do NOT save your Working file on a server. Do NOT duplicate Project Files or your Working File. Only use one Working File per user. You must remember where you saved you last working file. GENERAL NOTES Nobody can open a Project File after it has been created. A Working File is different than a Project File. File>Save only saves to your Working file. Save and Commit saves changes from your Working File to the Project File. Close and Release releases anything you’ve checked out to your Working File from the Project File. Save and Commit, and Close and Release will take more time to complete over a wireless connection. If a Project Administrator releases someone’s exclusive lock, that user will be unable to commit their changes from their working file. The user will need to create a new Working File, then copy and paste changes from their old ‘unlocked’ Working File to the new Working File. Vectorworks provides an alert when the Administrator tries to release a user’s Working File. Visit the following links to watch video tutorials and learn even more about Project Sharing: COFFEE BREAK - PROJECT SHARING IN VECTORWORKS INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT SHARING: THE MULTIUSER ENVIRONMENT

Building Information Modeling, or BIM, authoring software, such as Vectorworks®, allows architects and other professionals within the AEC industry to create complex, data-rich 3D models for the purpose of exploring and documenting a design. This continually growing technology also allows for new ways of sharing information among all consultants on a project. As a result, it is essential to establish an agreed-upon method and file format for information exchange between the different disciplines on a team who are each utilizing different software. In some cases, a traditional 2D line drawing exchange, such as a PDF or DWG, is needed to support those who have not entered the 3D realm. Other times, exchange of only geometry in the form of a 3D DWG may be needed for clash detection and as a background for referencing. However, if the file exchange needs to support Building Information Models and the sharing of geometry and data, then the IFC file format should be considered. Download All Project Files

Project Sharing is a multiuser environment the streamlines project management and execution. It was developed to help Vectorworks users manage projects involving multiple users, fostering effective collaboration and communication within a project team. Project Sharing is a single-file structure providing a mechanism that allows multiple users to work within - and access parts of - a file, simultaneously. This type of multiuser environment offers all team members the opportunity to act together - sharing their knowledge and expertise to the overall design and documentation of the project. It allows for the entire team to think of a project holistically. More importantly, a multiuser environment means a single source of information that can be used for automation and quality checking in drawing production and data extraction - one of the greatest benefits of BIM. This workflow guide introduces the user to the basics of Project Sharing setup, configuration, and use:

SMB on Mac OS has been a moving target, but it is getting better. It is more mature with Mac OS 10.10, 10.11 and beyond. NOTE: AFP is now deprecated as of 10.13. You should only use SMB. Some background information on SMB SMB is Microsoft’s proprietary network file sharing protocol. Most versions of OS X prior to 10.7 relied on an open-source implementation of SMB called Samba for accessing Windows file shares and sharing files with Windows clients. When the licensing terms for Samba changed, Apple had to develop their own SMB implementation. Apple has been struggling with it and it is still not as stable as it should be. Possible Issues with Project Sharing We have not seen any issues with SMB on Windows clients, but have seen issues saving from Windows SMB to Mac OS X 10.11, these issues are not present when saving to 10.10 or 10.12. On Mac OS X, we have seen ACL permissions problems with SMB2 and SMB3 with certain versions of OS X (early 10.9.x). We have not seen the same issues with AFP or SMB1 (“CIFS” protocol prefix). Many SMB issues are related to a mix of SMB protocols between clients. SMB3 (now the default for Mac OS 10.10) could have problems when interworking with machines that don’t have full support for SMB3. Much better results can be expected when all machines were on the same SMB protocol version. We have seen problems mixing AFP and SMB clients for the same share For Project Sharing, our recommendation is: Use SMB for both Mac and Windows. Use the latest version of macOS. Use the same SMB version that works well for all clients. Use the newest OS X version. SMB has version negotiation, so servers can be set to negotiate only up to SMB2 if there are machines that don’t fully support SMB3. Never mix AFP and SMB access to a share. Following these recommendations should provide a better experience. We are all hopeful that Apple will improve the stability of its SMB protocol at a faster pace now that they have made it the default protocol for Mac OS.

In the attached PDF, we cover both some common questions about Project Sharing, as well as a number of suggested workflows and practices for its use. Introduction_to_Project_Sharing_2017.pdf

The attached document below is an introduction to Project Sharing, along with this video series, provides an explanation of proper use and workflow suggestions.

This article contains a number of frequently asked questions and answers in regards to Vectorworks 2016's new Project Sharing feature. If you do not find the information you are looking for below, please feel free to contact us directly HERE. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Can I still use layer and resource referencing? When you share project files and use referencing, keep in mind the following rules: -Project files can be referenced into other project files and regular Vectorworks files; resources referenced from the file cannot be modified. -Regular Vectorworks files can be referenced into project files. For example, a symbol library can be referenced into a project file; resources referenced from the file can be modified. -Working files cannot be referenced into any other files; they are temporary files that can be deleted at any time. -Place the reference file in a location accessible by the project file and all users working on the project. -Relative reference paths are relative to the location of the project file, and the referenced file must be on the same volume as the project file. What if I need to leave the network that the project is on? Can I still work on the project? Yes, Project Sharing includes a Work Offline mode in case you need to take a laptop on a trip or you temporarily lose access to the network containing the project file. When in this mode, changes will ONLY be saved to the working file directly and any layers you have checked out will not be available to other users until you reconnect to the project and release them. If Vectorworks detects a loss of connection to the server, it will prompt you to begin working in offline mode. What if I want to see who made certain changes to a project? The History feature within the Project Sharing dialog will let you search not only for users, but by specific layers to either focus on ALL of a specific user’s changes, or to focus on which users made a change to a particular layer. Since you can add comments when checking out layers, editing layers or releasing layers, you can also search this comment history, so including useful keywords in the comment is advised. What should I do if my working file has become corrupted or I can no longer commit to the project file? 1. Do a Save A Copy As (Not just "Save As") of the working file and turn it into a regular VW file. 2. Have the administrator force release the layers that were checked out. 3. Delete your working file (you should have your changes in the "saved as" regular VW file). 4. Create a new working file from the project file. 5. Check out the necessary layers 6. Copy and paste the changed elements from the regular VW file to the new working file. Can I see changes made by other users live, in real-time? Not yet. Currently only after another user Commits changes to the project and you Refresh your working file will you see their new changes. Can a user with Fundamentals use Project Sharing? No, Project Sharing is only available in Architect, Landmark, Spotlight or Designer. Can I convert a Project file back to a regular Vectorworks file? Yes and no. You cannot “convert” a project back into a regular Vectorworks document, but you CAN use File > Save a Copy As (Not just "Save As") in order to create a non-project version of the working file, which from then on will function just like a regular Vectorworks file. The original project can then simply be archived or removed at your discretion. NOTE: Make sure that when using Save a Copy As, you then select the VWX file format to save as, not the default VWXW format: Can I store the project file on cloud storage? Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive? Yes, you can put project files (.vwxp) in Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box folders. NOTE: When using Google Drive, keep in mind that Project Sharing is only compatible with "Drive File Stream" if you are using Vectorworks 2020. It will still work with "Backup and Sync" on previous versions. Can I change the permissions for users that currently have layers checked out? Yes, but you should ALWAYS make sure that a user releases their layers and commits any changes before their permissions are altered to prevent a situation where a user is attempting to commit a change in an area they no longer have access to. Can I have more than one working file at once? Yes, but the Layers you checked out are restricted to the working file you checked them out in. A user cannot check out a layer in Working File 1 and then modify that layer in Working File 2. How is my user name determined? This is your computer's login name. If you attempt to access a Project file from more than one computer that you log into with two different login names, you will have to be added to the project file twice, once with each user name. What network permissions are required for users to access the location where a project file resides? Full access. Read, Write, Rename, Delete, Create, etc. Vectorworks uses a “safe save” technique for saving files, in which the previous version of the destination file is maintained until the last possible moment, to avoid potential file damage during save, such as by a hardware or network failure. To support this in a networked environment, permissions must be correctly set to handle the required file operations. In particular, the following two conditions must be fulfilled: 1) The user must have permission to delete files in the destination folder. This is usually the case when the user has write access to the folder. However, some network server configurations using fine-grained control (e.g. with Access Control Lists) may need to be specifically configured to allow this, by assigning “delete_child” permission to the folder. See (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201416) for more information. 2) Files created in the destination folder must inherit the permissions of the folder itself. Server installations that use Access Control Lists may need to ensure that “file_inherit” permission is set on the destination folder. (Note: On OSX Server, ACLs may need to be explicitly enabled. See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203574 ) What are the system requirements for using Project Sharing? In addition to the normal Vectorworks System Requirements We recommend 1Gbps network connection to the Project file, but 100Mbps will normally suffice. The performance of Vectorworks when working on a shared project over the network will depend on the available network bandwidth. If the network bandwidth is insufficient, operations that transfer large amount of data over the network will be slow. We recommend at minimum a Fast Ethernet (100Mbit/s) network connection. For large projects, Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbit/s) networks are highly recommended for a fast and fluid experience. Slower networks can still provide a satisfactory user experience if operations that transfer large amount of data over the network, such as committing changes to the project file or refreshing a local working file, are kept to a minimum. With OSX 10.9, Apple has made SMB the default protocol for connecting to network shares, moving away from the previous standard, AFP. We have observed some issues with SMB on OSX that cause permissions to be set incorrectly. If you experience problems with saving to a network share, attempt to connect via AFP to see if that solves the problem. From Finder, select Go->Connect To Server. Enter the prefix “afp:” prior to your share address. For example, “afp://myserver.address.net”. How should I start using cloud storage? Best practice: Move your VWX file into the cloud folder and then convert to a Project File. Second best is to move (*not* copy) your PF to the cloud folder. Once the project is there, leave it there, and never make any copies. Bad practice: Making copies, renaming, working on the file outside of Dropbox, or anything else you do in Finder/Explorer.