Sorting in Sheet Set Manager Model Tool: AutoCAD Platform Tools

Posted June 18, 2015 by Kevin Spear, Synergis Civil Applications Consultant:
I was doing some help desk coverage while other members of the team headed to training at an Autodesk event. This happens every year coinciding with the new releases of the software/applications. So, to get myself warmed up a bit, I took a stroll down to the Autodesk forums and found something called Autodesk Answer Day. The idea is that it is a live Q&A session hosted on a certain forum page. The first answer day was an AutoCAD Answer Day hosted on this board on May 7th, 2015. The people responding ranged from community managers and customer service to product designers and analysts.
One of the first topics I noticed was about the sheet set manager. If you have no idea what that is, PLEASE take a minute to educate yourself about the most underused power tool in the AutoCAD platform. Now that you’re familiar, let’s find out what problem is being asked. “Jarsky” wanted to know why the drawings and folders on the model tab did not sort alphabetically. See below for what was happening to him.
First off, let me say that the model tab has a primary use of being able to drag saved views onto a layout tab. Secondarily, I will often use it as a way to browse my project directory and open specific files. So if you like to double click on files in the windows explorer (WE), use of the model tab can do the same thing while keeping you in the right session of AutoCAD. (Because who hasn’t double clicked a file in WE and have it open vanilla AutoCAD when you meant to open it in Civil 3D)
OK, I have no idea why this would happen. Someone suggested that he revise the SORTENTS system variable which contributes to object sorting. This did not fix his problem though; good try. Then, “VStudley” from Autodesk Support mentions that this issue could occur when the sheet set file or drawings are saved on a “non-Microsoft” server. And it turns out this is the case as his network was built on Linux/Samba; in fact Windows and Novell servers are the only network types supported.
To verify, Jarsky copied the entire set to his local hard drive and opened the sheet set file from there. And yes, the files then sorted correctly.

The moral to this story is using a Linux/Samba environment is certainly far cheaper to use as a corporate platform, but ultimately the need for AutoCAD and other design applications to function correctly should direct you to use either a Windows or Novell network.
The End.
-Kevin Spear
Check out the Land Development Engineering blog for more posts from Kevin…
Kevin joined Synergis in 2012 with over 20 years’ experience as a civil engineer. Most recently he worked for Kling Stubbins. Kevin has a lot of experience with Civil 3D, all the way up through the current release, having been a Senior Applications Engineer with another Autodesk reseller and part of the Autodesk beta program. In his time at Synergis he is using his expertise to provide training, technical support, and consulting services to Civil 3D, Map 3D, and Revit Structure customers. Kevin is an Autodesk Certified Instructor.
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