AC5379: AutoCAD 2012 Content Explorer: The Complete Office Configuration Guide

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1 AC5379: AutoCAD 2012 Content Explorer: The Complete Office Configuration Guide Donnie Gladfelter CADD Microsystems, Inc. AC5379 New to AutoCAD 2012, the Autodesk Content Explorer provides several powerful tools for putting you in control of your design data and for quickly locating data from third parties. During this class, you will learn how content is indexed, and more importantly, how to customize the content within this index regardless of location, whether the files are local, on your network, or somewhere in the cloud. This class will show you how to maximize the potential of this index. We will also explore the many methods for accessing your data, including browsing as well as basic and advanced searches. You will leave this class with a comprehensive understanding of this powerful new feature. About the Speaker: Donnie Gladfelter (Richmond, VA) is a highly visible and respected thought leader in the CAD community. While perhaps best known for his The CAD Geek Blog ( which welcomes nearly 20,000 visitors per month, he is also a columnist for AUGIWorld Magazine, author of the book AutoCAD 2012: No Experience Required, and a popular speaker at Autodesk University and other industry events. Committed to his personal mantra of empowering CAD professionals, Donnie is a Business Development Manager for Autodesk 2010 Reseller of the Year, and Autodesk Platinum Partner, CADD Microsystems. Previously he was the Design Systems Specialist (Assistant CAD Manager) at Timmons Group, a leading ENR 500 civil engineering firm headquartered in Richmond, VA who employed more than 350 professionals. During his tenure there he was jointly responsible for the development of a collaborative BIM workflow using AutoCAD Civil 3D, and provided award-winning training to each of their CAD professionals. Donnie.Gladfelter@TheCADGeek.com Blog:

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3 Introduction Introduced within AutoCAD 2012, the Content Explorer provides a quick and efficient way for endusers to locate and use design data from any number of sources. Design data can be located in any one of three different locations including; a local folder, a network folder, or within the Autodesk Seek Library. The search itself is powered by an index file which is generated by the second core component to Content Explorer, the Content Service. This session will explore each of these components, explaining the role they play in the overall configuration of this exceptional feature. Key Components The Content Explorer is broken into two key parts; the Content Explorer itself, and the Content Service. These two components interdependently facilitate both the client-side (end-user) and server-side experiences. We ll explore each of these in detail throughout this session, but first we ll begin with a brief introduction of the role each plays. Content Explorer Content Service Content Explorer Central to the client-side user experience, the Content Explorer palette is the primary way users will interact with indexed design content. To launch the Content Explorer palate, navigate to the Plug-ins Ribbon tab, Content Panel, and click Explore. 3

4 Doing this will open the Content Explorer palette (shown below): Those familiar with the AutoCAD Design Center will likely begin seeing similarities between the two features. The Content Explorer palette offers many of the same options as the Design Center palette, but presents it in a streamlined manner. This is the primary method end-users will interact with and use any combination of local, network, and seek content. 4

5 Content Service The Content Service runs on each end-user or client side workstations as well as file servers, and maintains the necessary index of design content used by the Content Explorer itself. This service is automatically installed on client side workstations for the management of Personal Content Service indexes. By contrast, the service that runs within AutoCAD 2012 is not capable of generating design content indexes of networked file stores. To generate such a design content index, it s necessary to install the Content Service Administration Console on your file server. Installing this service on your file server will generate a Public Content Service index that can then be accessed by any number of workstations on your network. By generating and hosting the Content Service index from the file server itself, individual workstations are always in sync with other workstations within a company as they are each reading the same index. Personal vs. Public Content Service Indexes As a review, Content Service Indexes are created in two varieties, personal and public. You can think of these different index types in the following ways: Personal Content Service Indexes A personal Content Service index is never available to more than one workstation. This type of index is typically created by an end-user, and will index a collection of local user specified directories. These indexes can never include external, networked locations such as UNC paths or mapped drives. Public Content Service Indexes A public Content Service index is the way in which a local workstation can access content not stored on that individual workstation. Since this content almost always lives on a separate computer, it s safe to think of these as networked or shared indexes. The net benefit of this relationship is that endusers will never have an index that s out-of-sync with other workstations within the organization. Instead, since the index resides on the public or networked servers file share, users within an organization will always access a consistent index across the entire organization. Although this session will focus on both types of Content Services, the greatest focus will be on the installation and configuration of Public Content Service indexes. These public indexes are how a common collection of design content will be distributed across two of more workstations. 5

6 Personal Content Service Indexes Personal indexes are an incredible way for individual users to manage and maintain indexes of content stored on their individual machine. These indexes are only available from the Content Explorer on that individual workstation, and may only index content stored on physical drives connected to that workstation. Personal Content Service Requirements AutoCAD 2012 Design content stored on a locally mounted drive. Creating a new Personal Content Service Index To create a Personal (local) Content Service Index: 1. Launch AutoCAD 2012, and open the Content Explorer from the Content panel of the Plug-ins Ribbon tab. 2. With the Content Explorer palette open, click the Configure Settings button. The Autodesk Content Explorer Configure Settings dialog opens. 3. Select Home within the Content Sources list along the left of the dialog, and then click the Add Watched Folder button in the lower-right corner of the screen. The Select Watched Folder dialog opens. 4. Select the directory to index. Click OK. 5. The selected directory is added to the Watched Folders tab of the Home content source. Click Close to exit the Autodesk Content Explorer Configure Settings dialog. Content from newly selected watched folders will be immediately available within the Content Explorer, but you will need to wait for indexing to complete before content thumbnails and search queries are available. The time required to generate the index is highly variable on the volume of content to be indexed. 6

7 Public Content Service Expanding access beyond a single workstation, a Public Content Service Index is typically hosted and managed separately from production workstations. As such, it s uncommon to install, and dedicate an AutoCAD license to a non-production machine. For this reason the Public Content Service runs independently from the AutoCAD application itself. Consequently, the process of setting up and configuring a public index is more complex than the procedure required for a personal index. Public Content Service Requirements AutoCAD 2012 Product Media Autodesk Content Service File Share containing design content Installing Autodesk Content Service The first step to creating a public service is installing the Autodesk Content Service on the server where you would like to host the index. The Autodesk Content Service installer is found on the same media as the installer for your AutoCAD 2012 based product. 1. Insert the installation media for AutoCAD 2012, and start the installer (setup.exe). 2. From the AutoCAD 2012 installation screen, click Install Tools & Utilities. 3. Locate and expand Autodesk Content Service in the list of available tools and utilities. 4. With the Autodesk Content Service expanded, select Public Service. Click Install. Before continuing, be sure to set up and configure a Windows Server File Share. Configuring the Autodesk Content Service Although the Autodesk Content Service is what will deliver content to the AutoCAD 2012 interface, end-users must first have access to the file share where the design content is hosted. Consequently a public file share must exist before configuring the Autodesk Content Service. With at least one share in place, follow these steps: 1. Start the Autodesk Content Service Administration Console from the Start menu > All Programs > Autodesk > Content Service. 7

8 2. From the Autodesk Content Service Administration Console, click Add Watched Folder 3. From the Select Watch Folder dialog, select the File Share, or directory within that File Share, to add to the Public Content Service. Click OK. Note: Only file shares will display in this list. Likewise, the Autodesk Content Service will automatically index all sub-folders within the selected share. 4. After returning to the Autodesk Content Service Administration Console the selected share is added to the list. Indexing of the selected directory will begin immediately, and the basic content will also be immediately available within AutoCAD. Despite this general availability, some functions such as advanced search queries and thumbnails will not be available until indexing is complete. 8

9 Adding Public Content Service to AutoCAD With the Autodesk Content Service installed, configured, and indexed, the design index can be connected to AutoCAD To add this newly created index: 1. Open the Content Explorer palette from the Content panel on the Plug-ins Ribbon tab. 2. With the Content Explorer palette open, click the Configure Settings button ( ). The Autodesk Content Explorer Configure Settings dialog opens. 3. From the Autodesk Content Explorer Configure Settings dialog, click the Add Network Content button. The Add Network Content dialog opens. 4. From the Add Network Content dialog, enter the server name of the server where the Autodesk Content Service was installed. 5. The designated content service is added to the list of Content Services. Click Close to exit the Autodesk Content Explorer Configure Settings dialog. 9

10 Searching a Public Content Service Index Each Content Service Index is added to the Content Explorer on an individual basis. As such the appropriate content service index must be selected prior to browsing or searching a given index. To designate a specific Content Service Index: 1. Open the Content Explorer palette from the Content panel on the Plug-ins Ribbon tab. 2. Click the house icon in the upper-left corner of the interface to display a list of available content sources. In the following illustration displays one of each type of design index; Home is the default Personal service, CMI-VAULT a Public service, and Autodesk Vault the default online index. After selecting the appropriate design index it is possible to navigate the index manually, or by entering a search query into the Search text box at the top of the palette. 10