Using Autodesk A360 Drive for Collaborative Design - Part 1

When installing Autodesk Product Design Suite 2017, one optional application which can be configured is the A360 Desktop which will install a local A360 Drive also.  This application will create a synchronized link between the local A360 Drive and the Autodesk A360 Drive website.  Using your Autodesk ID, which can be obtained free, you can log into the A360 Drive website to manage your uploaded files, share access with others for collaborative design and update your files as design changes are made.

In this article I will be using Inventor design files but any type file can be added to the A360 Drive website and shared with team members.  When Inventor 2017 is installed an add-in is installed called Connected Design on A360.  

If this add-in is loaded and the Connected Design on A360 user interface is enabled, there will be a new small icon added to your Inventor graphics screen in the lower right hand corner.  This icon, when selected, will give you access directly to the Autodesk A360 Drive and also allow you to upload collaboration files directly from the currently open part or assembly model.

       

 If you select this small icon it will open up the Connected Design on A360 panel.

The panel consists of two main tabs, Events and Design Shares.  If you currently do not have any designs currently on your Autodesk A360 Drive, this tab will be grayed out.  If you would like to quickly open and log into your Autodesk A36 Drive, you can select the A360 Drive icon in the upper left hand corner.

To get started sharing a part or assembly model on A360 Drive, open a part or assembly model in Inventor and then select the Design Share this View at the bottom of the panel.  After selection you have the ability to change and add to the Design Share file name, add comments, decide to share Component Names and/or Part Properties and add the email of Collaborators who you desire to be notified via email of the shared design.  Later you can also collaborators inside the Autodesk A360 Drive website.  Selecting the Start Design Share button at the bottom of the dialog box will add the file to the website.

Once the design has be shared to the A360 Drive website, the Design Shares tab will become active.  On this panel you will see shares you own, be able to add email addresses to invite collaborators and will see design shares shared with you.  You can also end design shares you have uploaded.  At the bottom of the dialog box you can see the design share upload status.

I am sure you will notice that the application created a single file for my uploaded assembly. This means the assembly model and part models are combined into this single file and individual files are not available for download.  This feature makes sure that the design is secure and proprietary content is protected.  If someone downloads the file, it has a .collaboration extension and is not editable.

In this article I will not cover the functions available on the A360 Drive website, I will do that in a future post.  I would like to focus on other ways to use the local A360 Drive and A360 Drive website.  As I just explained, the collaboration file created by Inventor is non-editable which is not what some design teams desire.  There are those you want to share editable files between design teams around the world.  The A360 Desktop application not only creates a A360 Drive on your system but also installed the controlling A360 Desktop application which you can find in the running application on the Windows taskbar.  By default, the application starts when you Windows starts.

If you would like to share any files on the A360 Drive website, all you have to do is copy them into the local A360 Drive.  The application will automatically synchronize all files from the local A360 Drive to the A360 Drive website.  I suggest that you do not save files directly from the CAD application to the local A360 Drive due to the fact is will be outside of the current Inventor project file and will create a uncontrolled saved file location.  When copying an Inventor assembly, it is unnecessary copy the associated part files because the application will automatically ask you if you desire to upload all associated files.  

If you desire to skip this dialog box and have all associated files uploaded automatically, right click on the A360 Drive icon on the taskbar and select preferences.  

In the A360 Desktop Preferences panel select "Copy Automatically" radio button under Linked files.  When you now copy an Inventor assembly all associated files will be copied to the local A360 Drive folder and will be automatically synchronized with the A360 Drive website.  I know I am talking about Inventor files here but if you copy an AutoCAD drawing containing Xreferences, they will be copied as well to the local A360 Drive.

Synchronization can be controlled by selections within the A360 Desktop icon in the taskbar if desired.  Right click on the icon to see the options.

If you look at the copied files, in your local A360 Drive, you will see the synchronization status indicated in the file icons.

As the design changes, simply copy the edited file to your local A360 Drive and the automatic synchronization will add a version to the existing A360 Drive website file retaining the previous version to aid in collaborative reviewing.

In this article I have covered two methods of sharing Inventor designs on the Autodesk A360 Drive website.  One uses a strictly view able file which cannot be downloaded and edited and the other method will place editable files on the website which can be downloaded by anyone you have invited to collaborate with your design on the A360 Drive website.  I will use the next article to review some of the options available on the A360 Drive website.