Understanding the AutoCAD link

Title block data synchronization is the primary configurable feature of the AutoCAD link. The link can synchronize attribute values in drawing title blocks with TeamWork document properties. It is able to do this for AutoCAD and its different editions (Mechanical Desktop, Architectural Desktop, and so on) without requiring AutoCAD to be installed. For more information on AutoCAD attributes, see the AutoCAD documentation.

TeamWork can synchronize property values automatically at key events in a document’s life cycle and manually using commands in the TeamWork client applications and provided by add-ins installed in the linked applications. The synchronization events are determined by the document’s type, as described in Configuring title block updates. You configure the AutoCAD link by specifying:

• Which blocks in drawings contain attributes to synchronize
• Which attributes in each block to synchronize
• Which TeamWork property to map to (synchronize with) each attribute
• Which direction to synchronize each attribute, from AutoCAD to TeamWork or from TeamWork to AutoCAD

Title block synchronization is designed to synchronize one title block per drawing file. Therefore, the feature does not work well when one drawing file contains multiple title blocks (sheets).

Lastly, the AutoCAD link can synchronize AutoCAD file (also known as Summary) properties and AutoCAD sheet set properties with TeamWork document properties.

You configure the AutoCAD link by editing an INI-like text file that is stored in a hidden area of the vault. The file can be edited in Configurator, as described in the following topics.