There’s a lot for a point release.
The latest release of Autodesk’s Vault PDM software is modern, connected and more insightful than previous versions. The recently released Vault 2023.1 update includes bug fixes, resolved issues and improved performance. It also brings new and enhanced features.
“Vault product data management (PDM) software helps you manage your design and engineering data, improve collaboration and take control of your product development processes,” according to the Autodesk website.
General Enhancements
The new 2023 dark and light themes now extend to Vault Basic and Vault Workgroup. Previously, these themes were available only in Vault Professional.
In prior versions, the Has Drawing property showed false on drawing files. That made sense initially but did not help with life cycle definitions and limited design release to only when a drawing existed. That is why Autodesk changed this to show “true” on drawings.
Vault 2023 included the embedded Autodesk Viewer’s markup capabilities. However, it was difficult to find the files with markups because you had to view the file. Now, with the 2023.1 update, instead of going file by file, , you can use the new Has Markup and Has Markup Historical system properties to quickly find file versions with associated markup data.
Continuing with markups, when viewing a file, the Markup button now shows the number of markup on the file. Selecting this button launches the Markup Browsing Panel (see image above), allowing you to switch between the markups.
Other UI (user interface) enhancements include Open Drawing, which allows you to open a file’s associated drawing file without having to find it first. If multiple drawings are associated with the file, Vault prompts you to indicate which one you’d like to open.
In the CAD applications (Inventor and AutoCAD), a new option in the Show Details pane allows you to refresh the content—something previously not possible from within the pane. The Update feature is now available from the bill of materials (BOM) right-click content menu. You can use this to update the item BOM from the CAD application without needing to use the Vault client. Additionally, within Inventor, you can quickly load and unload the data standard add-in from the ribbon.
Job Processor Enhancements
The stand-alone Job Processor utility processes queued jobs, performing set methods to groups of files or items. This automates repetitive or time-intensive steps.
Based on a customer ideas submission, administrators can now enable Automatic Retry. This means you can automatically retry failed jobs a set number of times as opposed to manually resubmitting failed jobs.
Copy Design Improvements
Copy Design has undergone much tweaking and improvements since its UI overhaul a number of releases ago.
With the 2023.1 update, copy and page is enabled in the Copy Design grid. Previously, you edited one value at a time, whereas now you can make group edits with Excel, for example, and paste the changes back into the form.
You can now export the list of errors encountered during the copy operations. Previously, you needed to memorize, write down or screen capture the errors for reference.
Thin Client Enhancements
The updates to the Vault thin client stem directly from customer feedback.
You no longer need to enter your username during login as you can now cache the username for quicker logins.
Originally available only in the thick client, Update Visualization can be accessed to queue the creation or update of the file’s Visualization file. Visualization files provide the means for viewing the CAD file without needing the CAD application.
New filters allow you to hide closed and canceled change orders from the workspace to reduce the clutter and make it easier to find open change orders.
Viewing files is now easier. You can view files from items directly and no longer need to route through the file workspace. You can view images within the client without downloading it first. Non-design file types that are supported by the browser (like PDFs) now open in the browser. If a file type is unsupported, the thin client will prompt you to download it.
Restoring functionality from older versions, administrators can now limit access to released files only.
