Jason Kelly
The release of Autodesk Vault Professional 2024 is now live. Autodesk looks to have focused mainly on the automation element of the software, as well as adding improvements to the Thin Client and security features.
The first new tool introduced is the ‘Copy Folder’ option. This tool is added to drive consistency and compliance within companies by allowing users to copy a top-level folder and include a number of options, including; subfolders, permissions and properties. This will allow companies with a rigid folder structure to define templates at the core of Autodesk Vault that each user will have access to. An added benefit is selecting the permissions option so any company with tight security can ensure all folders are correctly assigned.
The administration area of Autodesk Vault is where the majority of changes have been introduced. Data export options have been added for STEP and Flat Pattern DXF files. This introduction aligns with the previous functionality of exporting PDFs. These can be introduced manually or automated by the Job Processor during a lifecycle state change. It will allow users to save these files within Vault or to a local folder.
Continuing with lifecycles and Autodesk has added a security feature for ‘peer review’. This new option sits under the transition between lifecycle states. This tool gives businesses the ability to stop the same user from reviewing their own work. It will check who moved it to the previous state and ensure a different user has ‘checked’ the file. With this command comes extra options for deciphering which files go through the peer review check. This gives users the options for property compliance checks to ensure only files of a certain type are being ‘Peer reviewed’.
The Vault add-in for Autodesk Inventor is another area that has been changed. Users now have the option to map Inventor design data and templates directly into Vault. This has been possible before but would cause issues with users falling out of date with the latest library files if they are constantly being updated. Now, if mapped correctly, every time a user logs in to the Inventor Vault add-in it will scan the templates and design data folder in the user's local area to match that of what is stored in Autodesk Vault. If there are any changes it will automatically download the version from the Autodesk Vault so that each user is working off the same files.
Backup and restore methods have been altered giving the option for database backups in the core software. Database backups are going to reduce the amount of storage space required on servers as filestores are not getting duplicated. The option to also choose which databases and libraries are added again reduces file duplication. This is also going to greatly reduce the time for the backup to run. A full external copy of the filestore and databases will still be required. When restoring this backup the new options allow for filestores to be redirected and also ‘no validation’, so a filestore doesn’t have to exist. This will allow for quick migration and restoration of Vaults.
The final updates have been made to the Thin Client. These have been added over the 2023.1, 2023.2 and 2024 releases. These smaller tweaks include; advanced search, view configuration for administrators, Excel data export, expand/collapse all, generate visualisation button and more.
If you are interested in hearing more about any of the new features or are interested in migrating to this latest release then please get in touch with us here at Symetri.
You can also register for our upcoming What's New in Inventor & Vault 2024 webinar on 18th May.
To learn more about Vault Professional, please visit our product page.
