Opening Drawings in Read-Only?

[mfleming]

Hey.

We're using AutoCAD 2005 @ our work. The issue is, there are people in the shop that open up are drawings to print stuff off. I need a way for them to be able to ONLY be able to open our drawings in Read-Only. The only way I know how to do this is to click open then open as read only.

Is there anyway I can make our project files read-only to this user or do I have to write a program ie LISP?

Matt

 

[friartuck]

Use windows explorer

right click on the drawing file

tick read only

when the AutoCAD drg is opened, it will say...'do you want to open the read only file'

I have also found that any drg copied to a CD becomes read only so whenever I transfer files to a disc and give them to someone, they become read only and I have to go thro explaining how to make them 'unread only' by reversing the process in windows explorer



Friar Tuck of Sherwood

 

[mfleming]

Will that method not make it read-only for everyone? I only want read-only for that one user. Is there another way to do this as he will be in CAD scrolling through the drawings?

Matt

 

[IFRs]

Change their LAN access to that folder to read-only?

 

[borgunit]

Depending on your OS setup, you can right click on the folder and then apply a security setting based on the user.

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." — Will Rogers

 

[mfleming]

I'm using Windows XP Pro. I'm unsure of how to change access on the LAN. I can right click the folder but I don't really get any options to change permissions.

matt

 

[borgunit]

File systems need to be NTFS for this to work also.

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." — Will Rogers

 

[mrspetos]

mfleming,
we have a similar setup you describe. we have voloview installed on all the shop PCs, and full ACAD in the office.

 

[mfleming]

I have NTSF setup. Also, the guy in the shop takes parts of our drawings and blows them-up and prints them off. The problem is that he's lazy and if he needs to re-use them he just saves it. ie. into our drawing. I don't want this happening, I need him to only be able to open our drawings in read-only and if he likes or needs to save as to his hardrive.

Is there a LISP app that can do this or something or what?

Thanks

Matt

 

[mfleming]

Does anyone know how to set Read-Only access to a network user in WinXP Pro for Acad 2005? Or if you know a command the opens drawings in read only that might work as well.

Thanks

Matt

 

[borgunit]

You may just be creating a new issue to deal with. If the user has AutoCAD, he can just do a saveas and bypass your read-only fix and then you can have multiple copies (not good). You may want to try only giving him access to drawings saved in DWF, PDF, TIF, etc.. to limit the ability to copy or edit. We do this for vendors quite a bit. Volo is free and reads DWF, we use PDF995 (free) also to create pdf files of our DWG's (works nice).

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." — Will Rogers

 

[IFRs]

For our LAN we use logon scripts that map drives to network folders including restricted access. Like, M: is \\server\drawings. The shop opens all drawings from M: and gets them read only.

 

[hendie]

If your user only requires to open drawings and plot them, or plot portions of the drawing. Rather than give him access to a full Autocad, have you looked into providing them with a drawing viewer ?
A drawing viewer will alow them to plot drawings without any problems but there's no way they will be able to edit the file contents.
There are plenty viewers on the market, and a few free ones as well

http://www.resourcecad.com

~ for your CAD solutions

 

[borgunit]

Something to look at...

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=2895173&linkID=2475323

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." — Will Rogers

 

[CADSTUDENT]

Another approach is changing ACAD DWG drawing files into Adobe Professional 6.0 PDF files. I do alot of contract work and I don't want anybody fooling around with my drawing either on the floor or in the company's engineering department without my permission. PDF files can be viewed or printed but not modified by using Adobe reader.

Hope this helps,
John

 

[friartuck]

If you are on a prper server network, the administrator can restrict the users ability in certain folders etc. I'm not sure if he can make them read only for one person and open for editing by another.

I like the PDF option that Cadstudent mentions since you can download Acrobat reader for free.

Friar Tuck of Sherwood