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Task:

You have installed Allplan locally on several workstations and now wish to change the installation to access a shared network drive with the data store.



Note:

Before you switch to a network installation, you must back up the data of all workstations.
We highly recommend that this work be carried out by a technician. Your sales partner will be happy to provide you with a quote for this.



Solution:

For cases where Allplan is installed locally and the project data is also stored locally on each computer, the following description shows how to change to workstations with a common network drive for common file storage.

1. Getting ready
Choose one of the workstations where you will install all the projects and the office standard (hereinafter referred to as the main workstation).
First, move all the projects to the main workstation.

1.a: copying resources into projects
To make sure that the projects in your office have a uniform appearance, change the path settings for the projects' resources to 'Project'.
Make the following setting for each project:
Allplan -> File -> ProjectPilot - Admin. -> Select projects individually -> right mouse button -> Properties -> Settings tab
Change the path settings for 'Pen and line definitions', 'Fonts', 'patterns, hatching styles, area styles', 'bar and mesh cross-section catalogs', 'layer structures, line styles, drawing types' and 'attributes proposed' from 'Office' to 'Project', if necessary.
The corresponding elements are copied from the office standard directly to the project. This ensures that the project settings stay the same even when you copy the project to the new server with the new office standard.

1.b: pen color ("Color stands for pen")
The pen color for the "Color stands for pen" setting is a user-specific setting that is not saved to the project but to the user folder (...\Usr).

2.a: Importing projects from individual workstations to the main workstation
The projects of the secondary workstations can now be imported at the main workstation via the tool "New Project, Open Project -> Import project". Here you can import one or more projects or zipped project backups from any path. You can select the projects in the “import project” dialog box and import them into the current version. The source version is displayed in the version column.

The main workstation contains the latest version of all the projects of the office.

3. merging project defaults
To do this, copy the elements to be transferred (symbols, smart symbols, lists, etc.) on the secondary workstations in ProjectPilot to the external path, which can of course be set to a shared network folder.
In a second step, copy the elements to be transferred to the office standard on the main workstation in ProjectPilot via the external path.

4. Transfer the central file storage folder from the main computer to the future server:

• Before the switch, create a folder on the server (e.g. Data) and share this folder with anyone with full access (e.g. as Data). Create a subfolderAllplanunder it. (e.g. \\server\Data\Allplan). Allplan works with UNC path. In the case of a network installation, there must therefore be a folder for the central file storage on which Allplan 2022 is to be installed that is shared by all computers.
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• Exit Allplan on all Allplan workstations.
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• Open the Allplan Diagnostic Tool on the first computer viaServices application - > Service - > Allplan Diagnostics. Switch to the "Settings" tab.
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• Under the field "Workgroup settings” press "Search...". In the browser that appears, you can search for the new share by entering the UNC name of the new server at the top followed by the share or the complete path and confirm with Enter. Select your new central file storage folder and confirm with OK. Please note that the new path must conform to UNC only when using the Workgroup Manager. For example: \\server\Data\Allplan)
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• To start the migration, please press "Apply". This will start the copying process and change the configuration. The data is not moved but copied and this workstation is now converted and accesses the new data store.

• You can now switch all the workstations to the future network installation via the same process. For the other workstations, the copying process of the project and STD folder is prevented with a corresponding note, because the routine already recognizes these folders on the new server. Only the configurations on the computer are changed.
  

5. Optional: Activate Workgroup Manager (if the licenses include it)

Please refer to the following FAQ to enable the Workgroup Manager on the workstations:

https://connect.allplan.com/en/faqid/20211001075702.html

6. Summary:
All the workstations access a common network drive with the same project pool and office standard.
Without the Workgroup Manager, only one user can access a project at the same time. Simultaneous work of multiple users in one project is only possible in an Allpan installation with the Workgroup Manager, if the license includes it. Please see section 5.