Project sharing best practices

Software and hardware configuration

Each project team member must use the same version and update of Vectorworks.

To share the project with Vectorworks Cloud Services, use Vectorworks 2021 Service Pack 4 or later.

To share the project with a cloud-based file storage service other than those automatically recognized by Vectorworks, use Vectorworks 2025 or later. (Services recognized by Vectorworks: Vectorworks Cloud Services, Box Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Resilio Sync.)

Each project team member should have a unique user name (the name used to log into the computer).

Vectorworks does not support using project sharing via virtual machine.

When sharing the project with the network share method, all users must access the file via the same file protocol. For example, don't store the project file on one user's computer and have other users access the file over the network. If you must use different file protocols for sharing, use the cloud service method.

To prevent configuration errors, all cloud folders should be listed on the Project Sharing Cloud Folders pane of the Vectorworks Preferences.

Project files and folders

When creating the project file, ensure that you have full read, write, delete, and rename permissions to the project folder, subfolders, and project file.

When sharing the project folder in Vectorworks Cloud Services, use the "Sync and Edit" permission. If you're using another cloud storage provider, ensure that each team member sets the provider-specific option to store both the shared folder and project file on the local machine, as opposed to having them available online only.

Once users have created working files from the project file, don't rename the project file, move it to a different folder, or rename the folder. Never make copies of a project file.

Working files

Save your working file to your local hard drive, not to cloud storage or a network. Don't make copies of your working file.

When you open a working file connected to a project file with the cloud service sharing method, you must have an active internet connection, and the desktop client for the file sharing service must be running.

You should have only one working file per project, which you can continue using until the project is complete. If you have a problem with a working file, commit your changes to the project file and release all checked out layers and objects. Then delete the working file and create another one.

If you use multiple computers to work on a shared project, use a different working file for each machine. Additionally, your user name on each machine must be unique.

In general, each user should save and commit changes to the project file two to three times per day—often enough to keep the project up to date, but not so frequently that it causes bandwidth problems due to too much traffic. For example, each user might refresh their working file at the start of the day, save and commit before lunch, refresh after lunch, and then save and commit again at the end of the day.