Share files and keep in sync

[johnrobert]

Client wants to share files among 10 employees’s also when they are all working on the same file to keep it updated I think now the files are going out of sync people unknowingly working on old files.

They all have Win 10 also Office 365 business I don’t know if SharePoint is included


They have a Qnap NAS they can connect from anywhere just wondering best was to do this

I got an email from Lisa this morning about SharePoint wondering if they should be using that

I want to keep it simply they are all engineers and think they know everything but after a year they still

Can’t figure out the Qnap.


It’s the same old I can show you how to do it but I can’t make you understand

 

[Markverhyden]

You need to determine which files/apps they are using. Many will not support simultaneous editing and versioning irregardless of the "cloud" solution.

And engineers can be so annoying, thinking that they can handle anything technical just because they're engineers. Had a Design Jet repair at Raytheon facility where a couple of them decided they could fix the problem. Even though the manuals for those older ones are readily available they just dove in without RTFM and broke several items, some of which you cannot buy. Fortunately I was able to fabricate the necessary cables, epoxy repair parts, etc to get it up and running.

 

[nerd2u]

Are they all wanting to work on the same file at the same time or is it more Bob does his work then saves then Sally is supposed to add her changes and so on.

If it's the later SharePoint can work well because they can check out and in files.

As mentioned not every file can be edited by multiple people at the same time.

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Sharepoint and OneDrivefor Business come with Office 365 business plans..so they already have a good shared files in the cloud service...Sharepoint.

I do not know of an app to sync a sharepoint library with a local NAS. I know there are OneDrive plugins for NAS's...I don't know how well they work...but you want Sharepoint for centralized file share versus OD which is more just for personal file sync.

 

[TAPtech]

Sharepoint is pretty good at this these days. Create a document library, and click the link to "map the drive". It works best for Office Documents. Not good for engineering files like CAD and such, but then again... nothing is!

 

[johnrobert]

Thanks

They are cad files mainly.
What is the reason CAD files don't work well is it because they're not MS app

I could set up in and out folders on NAS so they know when something is in use, the simpler the better

 

[fencepost]

Kind of. Microsoft made a real effort to build some level of simultaneous editing into Office because it was a distinctive feature of Google Docs. The most important part of that is that the application is designed to allow multi-user access - the details beyond that can vary because there are lots of ways to handle communication between computers.

If the CAD software is designed to allow simultaneous access then there will be information available on what conditions are required (e.g. only on local files such as on a terminal server, only on a local network, etc.). OneDrive/SharePoint may or may not be supported. If the software isn't designed to allow simultaneous access/collaboration then there's nothing at all you or your customers can do - it's like complaining because you can't fill your gasoline car from the diesel pumps, it just isn't going to work, it's not designed to be compatible.

 

[HCHTech]

If the CAD software is designed to allow simultaneous access then there will be information available on what conditions are required (e.g. only on local files such as on a terminal server, only on a local network, etc.). OneDrive/SharePoint may or may not be supported. If the software isn't designed to allow simultaneous access/collaboration then there's nothing at all you or your customers can do

Yes. Autodesk Revit, for example allows multiple access when you are in a server environment - but it works by making a copy of the working file on the local workstation, so the individual changes are done locally. Then, when changes are saved (which may happen automatically on a preset polling interval), it commits changes back to the shared data file on the server. I had a problem with one of my architect clients where there was a failing CPU on a workstation. If that workstation had a shared file open at the same time as others on the network, and that workstation crashed, it would corrupt the shared file and the others would lose their changes. This did not make for a happy client!

 

[nerd2u]

In and out folders won't work, it may work for a while then people will stop moving things between folders.

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[TAPtech]

Same with software like QuickBooks. Needs something to keep track of who is accessing the file, so requires the agent running on a server. Sort of lame if you ask me.

 

[Markverhyden]

The issue of multiple, simultaneous editing is a function of the app developer. This requires tracking all of those activities. Office apps do have a logging system but multiple users are not allowed as far as I know. This is why database apps exist.

 

[Diggs]

This is why Google Drive Stream was created (provided they have bandwidth). (People try so hard to avoid Google products?) The sharing details for Stream are below in the linkage and MS Office is supported. You can see who has what open, change logs, history of revisions by file, etc.

https://gsuite.google.com/learning-center/products/drive/get-started/#!/section-5

 

[HCHTech]

I have used realtime-editing-by-multiple-simultaneous-users with Google sheets before - we were managing a charity auction, and I think we had 4 spotters, one auctioneer assistant, and 3 cashiers all in the same big spreadsheet at the same time. It worked like a charm, once we did a run-through and training so that everyone was aware of everyone else's presence and how to see that. There was still potential for problems if two people would have been editing the same cell at the same time, but the training avoided that.

I don't think I would want to deal with the problems that would crop up if this were standard practice for all documents in a company.

 

[fencepost]

Office apps do have a logging system but multiple users are not allowed as far as I know.

They added some level of real-time collaboration with Office 2016, though the information I found on it makes me think that it's probably still not as good as Google's. I saw direct mention and examples for Word, and I think I saw mention of Excel.

 

[Your PCMD]

Fortunately I was able to fabricate the necessary cables, epoxy repair parts, etc to get it up and running.

And got paid like a MOFO after the process.

 

[TAPtech]

Realtime collaboration works with the Sharepoint set up. Neither sharepoint or filestream will work with most 3rd party software such as QB. QB just wants you to use QBO, they likely are not interested in supporting anything else. CAD files are often large and cumbersome- the software providers don't even bother with multiple access in many cases, they just use the check-in/check-out method.

Fusion360 and Autodesk360 have a pretty cool cloud setup going though. You can, sort of, collaborate on files at one time. Those were made from the ground up to be cloud based though.

 

[brandonkick]

So from the way this reads, they have 10 engineers working on CAD files that are NOT contained in one central location. There is some mish mashing going on of files existing all over the place.... so engineer 1 downloads a CAD file from an email and starts working on it, engineer 2 pulls down the same CAD file from the email but obviously won't have engineer 1's changes and so on.

The easiest answer is a central location where are files "live". So they have a NAS and I assume do not have a server... which is fine. All CAD files live on the NAS. That way there is never any worry of files getting out of sync. The main drawback is that there is no provision for multiple people working on the same file at the same time. AFAIK there is no software that basically does "source control" for CAD files. Sounds like Autodesk Revit is a possible solution (provided they are an Autodesk shop) and if they have a server environment (which it sounds like they don't).

But really, what it SOUNDS like is that here just isn't any formally defined process for how these files are stored and accessed. IMO, the NAS is a great way to do it. Get the NAS mapped to each machine, and let the data live on the NAS. From there, it's as simple (and crucial) as making sure the engineers follow the protocol. There is a "JOBS" folder on the NAS and any new drawing that come in go in a nested folder inside the JOBS (or CAD FILES) or whatever folder. That way when engineer 1 is working on a file and finishes, and tomorrow engineer 4 opens it, they will have everything engineer 1 did the day prior) and when engineer 5 opens it while 4 is still in there working, they will get a read only warning.

 

[johnrobert]

So from the way this reads, they have 10 engineers working on CAD files that are NOT contained in one central location. There is some mish mashing going on of files existing all over the place.... so engineer 1 downloads a CAD file from an email and starts working on it, engineer 2 pulls down the same CAD file from the email but obviously won't have engineer 1's changes and so on.

The easiest answer is a central location where are files "live". So they have a NAS and I assume do not have a server... which is fine. All CAD files live on the NAS. That way there is never any worry of files getting out of sync. The main drawback is that there is no provision for multiple people working on the same file at the same time. AFAIK there is no software that basically does "source control" for CAD files. Sounds like Autodesk Revit is a possible solution (provided they are an Autodesk shop) and if they have a server environment (which it sounds like they don't).

But really, what it SOUNDS like is that here just isn't any formally defined process for how these files are stored and accessed. IMO, the NAS is a great way to do it. Get the NAS mapped to each machine, and let the data live on the NAS. From there, it's as simple (and crucial) as making sure the engineers follow the protocol. There is a "JOBS" folder on the NAS and any new drawing that come in go in a nested folder inside the JOBS (or CAD FILES) or whatever folder. That way when engineer 1 is working on a file and finishes, and tomorrow engineer 4 opens it, they will have everything engineer 1 did the day prior) and when engineer 5 opens it while 4 is still in there working, they will get a read only warning.

The simpler the better as they have not fully learned how to use the NAS I showed them many time, the Boss told me my boys can do anything was total bulllshit I made a local link for an engineer in the office were NAS resides he thought he could use the same link at home. he was supposed to be the most computer savy for me to train.

In Share point when files are saved in the library does it have any versioning for later saves I was reading it has like 01, 02 , 03 at the end of file name for word docs, would this apply to cad files, unless there is any real advantage in Sharepoint over NAS I don't want to use it as they won't learn it and blame it on me.

 

[brandonkick]

Really if they can't be taught to use a NAS share on their local workstations... I'd probably walk away from them. It really doesn't get any easier. The NAS lives on their "network", you configure the NAS and seed it with data, and then simply map the shares to their workstations either via UNC folder paths or a network mapped drive to the directories they need.

Now as far as accessing this from home, it is possible... I know with synology that isn't too bad to get working. Never used QNAP, but really they only need remote access to their workstations... as the workstation has the access to the QNAP NAS already.

Sounds like a headache....

 

[fencepost]

The simpler the better as they have not fully learned how to use the NAS I showed them many time, the Boss told me my boys can do anything was total bulllshit I made a local link for an engineer in the office were NAS resides he thought he could use the same link at home. he was supposed to be the most computer savy for me to train.

Time for a heart-to-heart with the boss and/or the staff to set expectations. It sounds like you may be getting stuck with policy or internal political issues that are being presented as technical problems. "Why can't I do this thing?" Because you're running an old version of the software. "Well you're the computer guy, fix that and get me the right version!" Your boss is going to have to approve that first, it's expensive. "You're a terrible computer guy, you can't fix my problem!" If you mean that your problem is a cheap boss, you're right, I can't fix that.

If they want simultaneous editing of CAD files, tell them that it's not your field but you'll be happy to charge them hourly to learn enough to evaluate the products they use and survey the market - or if there are products that can do what they're asking then the users should tell you and the boss who's going to have to pay for it what those products are and that they want to change over to using those. If they can't identify any products that do what they require, tell them that you really want a pony with wings that you can fly on and you're really unhappy that all of the stables around are being extremely unhelpful and won't help you get one.

In addition (to tell them), if they can't figure out how to use files saved on a network drive shared from a NAS, there may be a solution - some CAD software will work just fine on terminal servers using Citrix, so you'll just need to get them set up with a massive Windows server, licensing, Citrix, licensing, their CAD software (with whatever kind of licensing may be required for terminal server use), etc. and then you can take away their local PCs and just put in thin clients so they'll always be working on the server. Shouldn't cost more than a few tens of thousands of dollars, no problem, right?

Or they can work with you.