Teamwork question...another one

[Tom Krowka]

I've made a draft copy of the .plp file. Now it appears the only member who can acess the plp file is the administrator until the draft copy send changes back to the plp copy. Only one person was signed into the plp file, as team leader, who is the same person who made the draft copy.

I'd like to be able to send two draft copies home with the staff, but continue working on some parts of the plp file while they are out. Then incoporate both draft copies into the plp file. It does not seem this is going to work.

Hopefully I'm doing something wrong here and this idea will work.

[Aussie John]

Yes the Manual sucks too but Dont sign out of the PLP file, dont sign out of the Draft file. That puts you out of the loop. dont sign out unless you want to re-signin with a new workspace.

I suggest you make a test file.
Open the draft and plp at same time to see what is going on.

you havent said why you are creating a copy of the draft file.

[TomWaltz]

Sign on to PLP file, only have admin and viewer access.

If you already have a PLC, you access it through File > Open.

[Tom Krowka]

So that means I can shut down my computer without signing out? How would I do that? I was working in the plp file, with exclusive access from the team leader. Send and receive changes to myself, then close and exit the program by clicking the x in the upper right hand corner of the screen, then shut off the computer?

Would that process work for the draft copy also?

I was making a copy of the draft copy so two people could work on the project at home over the weekend, then update the plc. But now I believe the way to do it is to make two separate draft copies from the plp.

This whole process is convoluted, not very straigtforward at all. I guess it will all be simple once I understand how it all works.

[Aaron Bourgoin]

Unless someone else has a better suggestion about quitting an ArchiCAD session without Signing Out, Force Quit ArchiCAD.

[Anonymous]

Tom wrote:
... But now I believe the way to do it is to make two separate draft copies from the plp.

This whole process is convoluted, not very straigtforward at all. I guess it will all be simple once I understand how it all works.

Create two drafts from two different sign in's to the PLP file. You cannot be working directly in the PLP; you can only sign in and work in a draft file.

[__archiben]

Tom wrote:
I was working in the plp file, ...

you are NOT working in the PLP file . . . you are working on a copy of that PLP file called a 'teamwork draft file'. it has the extension 'PLC' and is very different from the PLP file itself. this is your fundamental error: you are never, EVER working in the PLP file.

in most cases, a teamwork draft contains duplicate information to the PLP, BUT with the addition of certain access permissions for each of the elements in the file. in your case, as team leader with exclusive access, those access permissions are for everything. you can treat it as though you are working on a PLN: save and quit the program as you normally would . . . BUT it's the PLP that contains all of the 'real' project information - periodically you need to 'send' any changes you've made back to the PLP file using the 'Teamwork>Send and Receive Changes...' command.

you can also give some of your workspace to others to sign-in to ('Teamwork>Change My Workspace...') which relinquishes your 'exclusive' access but not your team leader status. all of this can be done without signing out of the project (PLP) file.

... with exclusive access from the team leader. Send and receive changes to myself, ...

no - see above. you are sending those changes to the PLP file which is NOT the draft (PLC) file that you are working on.

I was making a copy of the draft copy so two people could work on the project at home over the weekend, then update the plc. But now I believe the way to do it is to make two separate draft copies from the plp.

two separate draft FILES - they aren't copies, they are TWO very distinct files even though they each contain a copy of the whole PLP file, their contents are very different: each draft contains different access permissions for the project elements. this is why each person who is to work on the project needs to sign-in and create their own, unique draft file. and when signing in, each person has to select ONLY the stories/layers,marqueed areas/etc that they need to work on. if the first sign-in is with exclusive access there won't be any of the project left for anybody else to sign in to. get it?

This whole process is convoluted, not very straigtforward at all. I guess it will all be simple once I understand how it all works.

it isn't 100% ideal, but i have to add that it ain't rocket science either. you're making it far more complicated than it really is. i think that you have a very wrong idea of 'teamwork' in your mind which you're holding on to despite what we're trying to describe to you here. bottom line: get some training.

~/archiben

[Karl Ottenstein]

Hi Tom,

You're getting great advice and course corrections below.

I just wanted to make sure you were looking at the right documentation / help file.

The AC9 Reference Guide has a short section on TeamWork, but is not the TeamWork manual. (Do read those 10 or so pages, though!)

The TeamWork manual itself is in PDF format ... and is also integrated into the online (Help menu) help. The online integration is great when you want to search for something - because it searches through a collection of books and manuals. But, it is not ideal when you are trying to read and learn something new like this.

On your first ArchiCAD 9 installation CD, you'll find the PDF manual called "Teamwork Guide". If you haven't, I highly recommend that you print this: it's only 32 pages ... and only 27 of those pages have something worth printing.

I think you've been around long enough to have used version 7.0? AFAIK, that's the last version that had a printed manual in the distribution, so you may still have a copy on your bookshelf. Obviously, some things have changed since then ... but some of the stuff in that old manual isn't in the current manual, so it is worth a look too. Other than I think your deadline is in 8 hours . 😞 But, hey, you'll be ready for the next team project! 😉

Karl

PS A tip to you and everyone else: Your AC 9 installation CD has quite a few PDF files with product documentation. If you create a folder (if it does not exist) called "Documentation" under your AC 9 program folder, and copy all of these PDF's into it - they will all show up in your Help menu and be one click away. The 6 PDF manuals that are part of the US SE9 library should also be placed into this Documentation folder to be easily at-hand.

[Tom Krowka]

If I could some training I would, believe me. I'm sort of out in Archicad hinterland here, and none is to be had. The dealer is 8 hours away, so I'm trying to work this out myself, and with the help of the Forum.

I will read the pdf file for Teamwork, see where that leads me.

The fundamental concept is what I do not totally grasp yet. Once I get that, I should be able to work out the rest. Once you get it, it seems so obvious. Obviously, haven't got it.

Thanks for all the comments. Time to get the project out the door.