Best Way to Save and/or Configure Drawings for Collaboration

This is a very important question for me :-). I am being given drawings by an architect. I will them be performing substantial modifications to his lighting plans, which is the one and only part of the drawing I will ever modify. I will then send it back to the architect. I may continue to make changes to my lighting plan as the project progresses and he may continue to make changes to his structural plans.

The key of course is that any time I make changes I would like to be able send them to him and have him be able to use them with the latest version of his structural plans, and similarly if he makes changes to his structural plan I would like to be able to use them with the latest set of my lighting plans.

1. What is the best way to accomplish this? I know "xref" in name only, is that how I accomplish this? What should I be sending back to him after I finish my first set of major modifications? He has (currently) sent me a single drawing that contains no xrefs to my knowledge.

2. I assume whatever solution we implement, the main thing we will need to make sure of is that we are never modifying each others respective responsibilities at the same time? That is, if for some reason he needs to add some lights or outlets (himself), he would need to inform me so that I sent the newest doc to him and then waited for his electrical changes to be made and returned to me before making any more myself. Is that correct?

Thanks

I think Xref is the way to go. You would Xref his drawing into yours. He would do likewise.

Xrefs are used when information is constantly changing and drawings are being shared between different companies. Xrefs are not actually part of the drawing that you are working on. They are considered "external references". You cannot change or modify any of the objects in a xref however you can adjust how layer colors and linetypes appear in the current file. You can also use layer On/Off and Freeze/Thaw.

Because Xrefs are treated like blocks it is important that you insert them at 0,0,0 on layer "0" or on a layer called "Xref".

I would recommend taking a look at your User's Guide and the AutoCAD Help file for further information.

Thanks! .....

Remember to detach your XRefs before sending your drawing to the architect and check that his drawing doesn't have any XRefs before you XRef it to your drawing. That way you will avoid circular references and keep everything clean.

Remember to detach your XRefs before sending your drawing to the architect and check that his drawing doesn't have any XRefs before you XRef it to your drawing. That way you will avoid circular references and keep everything clean.

Or use the Overlay Reference Type instead of Attachment to avoid the circular xref problem. The choice is there in the External Reference dialog.

if u make x-ref and attach x-ref on working drawing but you have to bind working drawing after sending......