The AutoCAD WS plug-in for AutoCAD software adds a new “Online” ribbon tab and toolbar to your AutoCAD environment, enabling you to upload and manage DWG files in your online workspace directly from within AutoCAD. By downloading and installing the AutoCAD WS plug-in, you can easily synchronize changes you have made to AutoCAD desktop files with those files you store on the AutoCAD WS server. This feature frees you from having to manually upload the file or its references after every change in AutoCAD, so that drawings accessed or shared online and on mobile devices are always up to date.

Go to www.autocadws.com/downloads to download the plug-in for your AutoCAD software version. Note: plug-ins are currently available for 2011 English-language versions of AutoCAD, AutoCAD LT, and AutoCAD vertical products.

In this tutorial we will review the basic capabilities enabled by the AutoCAD WS plug-in for AutoCAD software.

Overview

The Online ribbon and toolbar contain the following sections:

Upload

• Upload – save changes you make in AutoCAD on your desktop to your online  workspace  automatically.
• Upload More Files –  upload files to your online workspace  from your local drive or network
• Manage Uploads – manage and view the status of current uploads.

Content

• Open Online – open the current drawing in a web browser for online sharing and collaboration.
• Online Drawings – open your online storage to manage and download your online files.
• Timeline  - show the revision history for the current drawing.

Share

• Share – share the current drawing with other AutoCAD WS users.
• Get Link - generate a link to the drawing you can share online.
• Messages – showsrecent activity in your account and provide up to date product news.

Mobile & Tablets

• Mobile apps – open the mobile center, where you can get the latest AutoCAD WS mobile and tablet apps.

Before you can upload and share files, you need to sign-in to your AutoCAD WS account. Clicking any of the buttons on the Online ribbon and menu when not signed in will show the Login dialog. The dialog window lets you enter your AutoCAD WS or existing Autodesk credentials. If you don’t have an AutoCAD WS or Autodesk account you can click the “Create an account” button to create one.

The Online Ribbon and Toolbar

The Online ribbon and toolbar contain the following commands:

The Upload command controls whether changes you make in AutoCAD to the current drawing are automatically saved to your AutoCAD WS web storage.  The Upload command enables you to make sure that you (or others sharing the drawing) are always using the latest version of the drawing when accessing it from the AutoCAD WS web or mobile application. The Upload command also uploads any related reference files (xrefs), image  underlays, font, and stylesheet files required to display the full drawing set.

The Upload More Files command lets you browse your local drive or network for files to upload to your AutoCAD WS web storage. You can upload files of any type such as AutoCAD drawings (.DWG/.DXF), PDF documents or Microsoft® Office® files. Drawings and image files will then be available to you for viewing and editing  or for download from any computer for you and any other users with whom the the files are shared. Other file types will be available for download by users you designate (not viewing and editing).

The Manage Uploads command displays the Manage Uploads dialog window. This window lets you view the status of current uploads and control automatic uploads to files on this computer. You can check on and off automatic uploads for any file in the list. This is identical to opening the file in AutoCAD and clicking the Upload button to toggle automatic upload on/off. You can stop upload for a specific file, or remove it from the file list altogether, using the file list context menu. The “Stop All Uploads” button above the file list window lets you stop and resume uploads for all the files in the list.

The Manage Uploads Dialog Window

The Manage Uploads file list context menu

The Timeline command opens the Timeline dialog window, which lets you view past revisions, meetings and online edits to the current drawing in AutoCAD. To learn more about using the drawing timeline see the Timeline tutorial.

The Share command lets you add the current drawing in AutoCAD to another user’s AutoCAD WS account for viewing, editing and download using the AutoCAD WS web and mobile applications. Click the “Share” command to show the Share dialog window. The Share window lets you enter the email addresses your collaborators along with an optional message. By checking or unchecking the Edit and Download permission check-boxes, you can control whether your collaborators can edit (or just view) the drawing online, and whether they can save a local copy of the drawing to their computer. Once you click “Share,” the drawing will be added to your collaborator(s) AutoCAD WS account, and they will receive an email notification. If your collaborator(s) are not AutoCAD WS users, they can open an account directly from the email message. To learn more about Sharing in AutoCAD WS see the Sharing tutorial.

The Get Link command lets you generate a link to the drawing that you can post online on a web site,  Sharepoint portal, or blog post. Clicking the generated link opens the drawing in a new AutoCAD WS Editor browser window. You can control whether users who open the link can edit (or just view) the drawing online, and whether they can save a local copy of the drawing to their computer, using the Edit and Download permission check-boxes. See a sample link here.

The Messages command open your AutoCAD WS Messages section where you can view recent activity by you or other users with whom you have shared files, such as new file uploads, meeting transcripts, and also read up-to-date product news and announcements.

The Mobile Apps command opens the AutoCAD WS Mobile center which lets you download up-to-date-versions of AutoCAD WS mobile apps to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.