Vault – ‘Enforce Unique File Names’

By Chris Turner

Working with Autodesk Vault is a huge benefit, and file naming is critical whether Vault is being used or not. The good news is that Vault (all versions) allows you to control if this is allowed or not.

Using this option, you can prevent files being added to the Vault that contain the same filename. An error will be flagged not permitting the check-in. 

This option is actually not enabled by default and it must be disabled when using tools like the Vault Autoloader to populate the Vault. Administrator users also often disable this when initially adding files to Vault in bulk which may be legacy or from perhaps another system. Once the files have been added to Vault, one can then use the ‘Find Duplicates’ tool to then go back and rename / replace / delete as necessary. Very powerful tools in Vault which will repair/resolve and maintain file links while performing this maintenance.

A few things to also keep in mind: -

• Care needs to be taken when initially turning this on. Do not enforce unique file names if any files with duplicate names are currently checked out. The user will immediately be blocked when they wish to check the file back in.
• If disabled, the only restriction is that two files with the same name cannot exist in the same folder.
• This helps you keep the Vault clean without the same file being used In multiple locations. After all, if a part has the same part number it should be re-used rather than copied. 

Another good reason to adopt Vault in your environment!