Over the years, Autodesk has provided various means for us to access, sync, backup and share files. Most recently we used “A360 Desktop” (see end of this post) and more recently “A360 Drive“. Autodesk recently released the Autodesk Desktop Connector, which allows you to:

  • Manage remote files from your desktop
  • Connect to Team Hubs
  • Work offline or online

Desktop Connector gives you access to your production A360 data. Using Desktop Connector  to modify files that reside in production A360 will automatically sync changes, updating your production file in A360.

You will see a link on your BIM 360 Team hub like this:

You can install from here which links to these downloads (Help page for install here).

x64

x86

mac

 

You need to sign in:

You should now see a BIM 360 Team link in Windows Explorer:

You can use the tray icon to “Work Offline”.

More Information

Release notes here

Getting Started guide here

Some notes about A360 Desktop retirement

A360 Desktop older versions will get this message:

A360 Desktop current versions:

  • A360 desktop Windows Updater: All users except 2018 AutoCAD products
Windows 32-bit installer – A360 desktop Version 7.3 (exe – 362MB)
Windows 64-bit installer – A360 desktop Version 7.3 (exe – 409MB)
  • A360 desktop Windows Updater: For AutoCAD 2018 product users only
Windows 32-bit installer – A360 desktop Version 9.5 (exe – 373MB)
Windows 64-bit installer – A360 desktop Version 9.5 (exe – 409MB)

 

A360 Desktop Expiration link:

A360 Drive (previously known as Autodesk 360 Sync) is a file storage tool that syncs with your Desktop and makes your files accessible on the web, you can access your files here:
https://360.autodesk.com

A360 (or A360 Team, or A360 Project) is a project and team collaboration tool, you can access it here:
http://autodesk360.com/
and your project ‘hub’ is here:
https://myhub.autodesk360.com/portal/

You can copy something from your A360 Drive to A360 by using this drop down list option:

You will then be allowed to choose an A360 project. This creates a copy, there is no real link between the A360 Drive version and A360 version of that file. Obviously, the viewing and discussion capabilities are more collaborative in A360, so you may wish to take advantage of that feature if you are an A360 subscriber.

I’m pretty sure this is what Revit Skyscraper is going to look like when it gets released, and I’m guessing it will be called “Collaboration for Revit” or “Revit Collaboration” (sounds like an addin, yeah?). Check out the image:

Those features again:

  • Multi-firm concurrent authoring
  • No IT setup required
  • BIM directly accessible to other Cloud Services

I’m not breaking NDA as this was a mailout from CTC, and you can register for the webinar here.

  1. Open an elevated command prompt (Start – type cmd – right click Run as Administrator)
  2. @powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy unrestricted -Command “iex ((new-object net.webclient).DownloadString(‘https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1’))” && SET PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%chocolateybin
  3. choco install autodesk-fusion360
  4. It will be installed somewhere like this:
    “C:UsersUSERNAMEAppDataLocalAutodeskwebdeployproduction4b49a77e39afe2cab455d9514bab154658321859Fusion360.exe”
  5. If any problems (missing shortcuts etc), you can go here and directly re-run the installer:
    “C:Chocolateylibautodesk-fusion360.2.0.1149toolsautodesk-fusion360.exe”
  6. Upon opening, it should login to your Autodesk account and give you access to your files on Autodesk 360

You might also try
choco install CADConverter(to easily convert DWG to PDF and more)
or
choco install freecad

    A360 refers to a suite of products for cloud based file sharing and team collaboration, just like BIM360 refers to the more AEC-focused cloud collaboration services. The A360 moniker currently covers products including A360, A360 Drive, A360 Rendering, and now A360 Team.

    Initial pricing:

    Personally, I’m interested to see if this can become a central point for collaboration across all Autodesk products and services. On a wider scale, I’m keen to investigate any collaboration tools that allow quick and easy discussion of “issues” – when I say issues, I mean “anything that needs to be discussed and solved.” AEC teams have these kinds of discussions throughout the entire building design and delivery process… but there isn’t a nice, clean, easy solution to manage all of those issues and conversations (yet). I can picture it in my mind, I just haven’t seen one in real life (yet).

    You can start a trial of A360 Team here:
    A360 Team

    The A360 forums:
    http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/a360-products/ct-p/200

    You might be interested in my previous post about the Autodesk 360 Viewer.

    More info:
    Autodesk A360 Team Now Available in North America, Continues to Advance Design and Engineering Project Collaboration