AutoCAD Architecture 2025 Project Navigator
The Drawing Management environment within the Project Navigator helps you organize, create and access all your project drawings in one unified interface. Creating sheets for plotting is easier with the streamlined coordination that is built into the Project Navigator. The Project Navigator has four tabs that you can use to enter project data. These tabs correspond to the main phases of project creation: general project information, creating building data (constructs) and creating building documentation (views and sheets). We will start with an overview of each and then look at them more in depth. We will end by looking at collaboration through drawing version management within the Project Navigator.
Project Categories Overview
Each of the basic categories is represented by a folder in the Drawing Explorer within the project structure that helps you to organize your project files. For every building project in AutoCAD Architecture, the following basic category structure is displayed on the Project tab of the Project Navigator palette:
- [Project Name] – this is the top node in the project and is represented by a folder with the project name
- Constructs – this is the default category for constructs within the project. When you create a construct, it is saved into the Constructs category.
- Views – this is the default category for view drawings in the project. When you create a view drawing, it is saved into the Views category. It is important to note that if you create model space views within a view drawing, they will be placed under the view drawing in the same category as the view drawing itself.
- Sheets – in the project, sheets can be viewed in two ways: the Sheet Set View and the Explorer View. Each of these views will be discussed in more detail later in the article
The main category structure listed above is fixed but you can create subcategories and subcategory trees within this structure. Subcategories typically represent aspects of your workflow. These subcategories can be set up in different ways. For example, you might set up categories by discipline, by view type (presentation, section and rendering) or by sheet type (floor plan, ceiling plan and elevation). It is important to note that you cannot mix basic category types. For example, you cannot create a Construct subcategory within the Views category. Categories offer excellent organization for a project. Even small building projects contain many individual drawings that can be difficult to track. By putting them into descriptive categories, you can quickly find the correct files you need for your project.
The Project Tab
The Project tab on the Project Navigator tool palette is where you enter information that pertains to the entire project (see Figure 1). The Project tab allows you to do the following:
- Change project properties
- Launch the Project Browser
- Launch the Content Browser to access the project library
- Add, modify and delete levels
- Add, modify and delete divisions
- Synchronize the project with project standard styles and display settings
- Enable and configure project standards
- Refresh the project
- Close the current project
Figure 1 – Projects Tab
The Constructs Tab
You start creating constructs when you want to assemble the basic objects of your building project into base files. Typically, you begin a project by creating constructs. The Constructs tab of the Project Navigator tool palette is where you add the basic building objects for your project (see Figure 2). Constructs are basically the main building blocks of the building model. A construct represents one unique portion of a building, such as a building core or an entire floor. You will need to assign a construct to a level (floor) and a division (area of the floor) within the project. Constructs can span more than one level, which is useful for objects such as curtain walls.
The Construct tab allows you to do the following:
- Open and close existing construct and element drawings
- Add, modify and delete constructs and elements within the project
- Create categories for constructs and elements
- Launch the Content Browser to access the project library
- Reference elements into constructs
Figure 2 – Constructs Tab
A construct is a drawing (DWG) file. As opposed to non-project related drawing files, an additional XML file with the same name is created. The accompanying XML file contains information to connect the construct to the project. The XML file is created and updated automatically. You do not need to edit it but be careful not to accidentally delete it in Windows Explorer.
In multistory buildings, levels may have identical floor plans. You can create the constructs for one level and copy them to the other levels in one quick step.
You can convert an existing drawing file into a construct within a project. You specify the subcategory into which to move or copy the source drawing. When you convert a legacy drawing file into a construct:
- The drawing file is either moved, copied or connected through a link to the project category you specify
- You assign a level and a division to the construct
- You give the construct a different name and add a description to it
There are three different types of content you can place in a construct:
- Drawing objects. You can draw an entire floor, apartment layout, a frame drawing or a ceiling grid as a construct. Also, spanning objects such as curtain walls or elevator shafts are usually created directly as constructs.
- Element References. You can display repeating components within the construct, such as desk/chair combinations, bathroom layouts or stairs.
- A combination of drawing objects and element references. If you have a floor with different office types but repeating furniture elements, you could draw the office walls directly in the construct but reference the furniture as elements.
The Views Tab
The Views tab of the Project Navigator tool palette is where you can create individual views of your building data. Views contain constructs and are the primary location for you to add annotations such as notes, tags and dimensions within the project. After you have created a view drawing, you can then create model space views within it.
After the structure of the building project has been defined and constructs have been assigned to both levels (floors) and divisions (area of the floor), you can then start to create view drawings within the project. A view drawing references any number of constructs to present a specific view of the building project (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 – Views Tab
To create a view drawing, you must first decide which portion of the building you wish to look at and which type of view you wish to generate. View drawings will automatically reference the appropriate constructs in accordance with their level/division assignments within the building. For example, to create a floor plan of the west wing of the second floor, you would create a view that references all constructs that are assigned to the second floor of the west wing.
The Views tab allows you to do the following:
- Open and close view drawings
- Add, modify and delete model space views
- Add, modify and delete general views, detail views and section/elevation views
- Change the contents of view drawings
- Create categories for view drawings
- Launch the Content Browser to access the project library
The Sheets Tab
The Sheets tab of the Project Navigator tool palette is where you create and organize sheets for your project. Sheets reference views and are used for plotting drawings. The Sheets tab is also where you manage the project sheet set. This is where you will perform tasks such as creating a table of contents, managing page setups or publishing to a plotter, a PDF or a DWF file. The buttons at the top of the Sheets tab let you view sheet information in two ways: the Sheet Set View or the Explorer View.
The Sheet Set View is a tree view of the project sheet set in which you have access to all publishing capabilities. The Sheet Set view allows you to do the following:
- Add, modify and delete sheets in the project
- Open and close sheet views
- Assign numbers to sheet views
- Insert a table of contents
- Electronically transmit the sheet set
- Archive the sheet set
- Create sheet selections for specific tasks
- Manage page and publishing options
- Launch the Content Browser to access the project library
- Publish the sheet set to a plotter, a PDF, a DWF file or to an alternate page setup
The Explorer View is a view of the folder structure and sheet drawings in the project. The Explorer View allows you to do the following:
- Open, close and delete sheet drawings
- Create categories for sheet drawings
- Launch the Content Browser to access the project library
Sheets are organized into sheet subsets in the Sheet Set View (see Figure 4). Sheet subsets are a logical structure. The sheet folder category does not need to be identical to the sheet subset in which the sheet is placed. To avoid confusion, however, it is recommended that you have parallel structures in the sheet set and the sheet categories. You can rearrange sheets into different subsets within the Sheet Set View but that will not change their physical location in the category or folder. Also, when you remove a sheet from a sheet subset in the Sheet Set View, only the reference of the sheet to the subset is removed. The layout itself and its containing sheet drawing are not deleted from the Sheets folder or subfolder. In the Explorer View, sheet drawings are placed in folder categories. When you create sheets or sheet views within a sheet drawing, they are placed in the sheet drawing.
Figure 4 – Sheets Tab
External References
The Drawing Management feature uses external references (xrefs) as a means to create a project and maintain it. Elements are referenced into constructs; constructs are referenced into views and views are referenced into sheets. The mechanism of referencing is identical to the regular AutoCAD External References Management feature; however, the background methods employed have additional features.
Xrefs that are created in drawing management can automatically make use of project data, while those that are created manually through the xref palette or command line cannot. If you are working in a project environment, the best practice for referencing project drawings into other project drawings is to use the Project Navigator rather than the standard AutoCAD Xref Manager. The AutoCAD Xref Manager cannot differentiate between project drawings and non-project drawings. If you reference a non-project file into a project file by mistake, you cannot use the full Drawing Management functionality on that file.
It is important to keep the following considerations in mind when working on a project:
- Do not delete any XML files generated by the Drawing Management feature as they are vital for the project.
- Use the Project Navigator to create, modify and reference project files within the project. If you want to use existing non-project files in a project, convert them to project files first.
- Drawing Management supports the use of relative paths for external references. In the project setup, you can decide whether to full paths or relative paths. Working with relative xref paths makes moving the project and transmitting it easier and reduces the need to repath the project.
Drawing Version Management
In the AutoCAD Architecture Project Navigator, you have an amazing collaboration tool with drawing version management. Projects typically involve multiple users working together on a set of drawings. Because of this, it is essential to have a drawing version management tool to ensure that all changes are recorded and there are no access clashes. When you check out a drawing from the Project Navigator, all other users will have read-only access to the drawing and can view the version of the drawing that was last saved until you check the drawing back in. This is important because it ensures there are no file access conflicts and each change to a drawing is recorded. When you make changes to the checked-out drawing, they are not dynamically visible to other users. As the checked-out file is saved, no xref notifications are sent to others, as this can be an interruption to their work. To check out a file, simply right click on the file in the Project Navigator and select Check Out (see Figure 5).
Simply hovering over a file in the Project Navigator palette shows you the status of the file, the name of the drawing and its location, the date and time the file was last checked in and the name of the user who last checked-in the file. You can tell if a drawing is checked out based on the check marks. Red checkmarks indicate that the drawing is checked out by another user and a green checkmark indicates that the drawing is checked out by you. You will be prompted to add comments on the changes you made when you check a file back in. You will see this information displayed in the Check-In Version History, along with your username, your computer name and the date and time of the check-in. Each time you check a file back in, AutoCAD Architecture creates a backup file in the same folder that the drawing is stored in, slong with the drawing name appended with the check in time. It sometimes becomes necessary to revert to an earlier version of the drawing and the comments history makes this easy.
Figure 5 – File Check Out
Refreshing The Project Navigator
When multiple people are working on the same project simultaneously, one person’s Drawing Explorer view on the Project Navigator palette can become out of sync with the changes of another. To prevent this situation, refresh the Project Navigator by clicking Refresh Project so that all items are updated to reflect the current project status. It is highly recommended that this is done frequently during a project session if there are multiple people working on the same project.
On the Quick Access toolbar, select Project Navigator. Next, select the tab where you want to refresh the file tree. Finally, select Refresh Project.
Repath The Project
A repath is necessary after you make any of the following changes within the project:
- Rename a project file
- Move the project to a different location
- Move a project file to a different category
- Move a subcategory from one category to another
In addition to updating the project files, repathing will also update the paths of support files, images and schedules that are referenced in the project drawings.
When you zip a project and then send it to another user who unpacks the project to a different location on another computer, the project will be updated in its new location when it is set current for the first time on the new computer. However, this will update only if all project paths are correct and current when you zipped them. If you have moved the project to another location on your computer and did not repath it before zipping, the repathing on the new user’s machine will not work correctly. Before you zip and send a project, you must make sure that all external reference paths in the project are valid.
You have the choice of repathing a single project file, all files in a category or all files in the project. On the Quick Access toolbar, select the Project Navigator. Next, change the name or the location of a project file or project folder in the Drawing Explorer. The Project Navigator – Repath Project dialog box will display. Specify when you want the repathing to be done (Repath Now or Repath Later).
Figure 6 – Repath Project
