drawing timeline

Is there a way to view the times a drawing was being worked on?? Employee has a ton of time on a particular dwg but nothing seems to be getting done. Can I see the dates and times the drawing has been opened??

I don't know of any way to view specific dates and times that a drawing was opened. You can view some information, such as the total editing time on a drawing, by running the DWGPROPS command. Not sure if that helps any?

That kind of information is not available after the fact. Tracking software of some sort is needed in order to do that.

Search here for Productivity Analaysis Tool.lsp it will do exactly what you want it gives not only start end but what was done during session and can track a dwg for its whole life. I get dragged off jobs continuously so I close and reopen at end of day know how much time was spent on a dwg.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& REPORT ON USER'S COMMANDS USAGE &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

START TIME of report entry .... 2015.Feb.11 16:31:12

END TIME of report entry ...... 2015.Feb.11 17:15:01

Total period ............................... 00:43:49

FILENAME: 2014-PB.dwg

DIRECTORY: P:\2014\Design\

DATE CREATED: 2014.Dec.23 12:23:21

LAST SAVE: 2015.Feb.11 17:14:58

TOTAL EDITING TIME: 30:43:54

COMPUTER NAME: ITxxxx

LOGGED USER: Ahxxxxxxx

AUTOCAD VERSION: 19.0s (LMS Tech)

+=======================================================================+

| command name | num. calls | in % || time | in % |

+=======================================================================+

| MOVE ...................... 17 = 10% || 00:00:55 = 17% |

| -LAYER .................... 16 = 9% || 00:00:09 = 3% |

| MSPACE .................... 16 = 9% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| PSPACE .................... 16 = 9% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| GRIP_STRETCH .............. 11 = 6% || 00:00:20 = 6% |

| MTEDIT .................... 10 = 6% || 00:01:27 = 27% |

| U ......................... 9 = 5% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| REGEN ..................... 9 = 5% || 00:00:01 = 0% |

| ERASE ..................... 6 = 3% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| MATCHPROP ................. 4 = 2% || 00:00:14 = 4% |

| QSAVE ..................... 4 = 2% || 00:00:03 = 1% |

| LAYER ..................... 4 = 2% || 00:00:01 = 0% |

| ROTATE .................... 3 = 1% || 00:00:16 = 5% |

| SCALE ..................... 3 = 1% || 00:00:14 = 4% |

| CHPROP .................... 3 = 1% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| ZOOM ...................... 3 = 1% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| CIRCLE .................... 2 = 1% || 00:00:06 = 1% |

| LAYUNISO .................. 2 = 1% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| LAYISO .................... 2 = 1% || 00:00:04 = 1% |

| LINETYPE .................. 2 = 1% || 00:00:36 = 11% |

| LAYERCLOSE ................ 2 = 1% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| LIST ...................... 2 = 1% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| PROPERTIES ................ 2 = 1% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| -VPORTS ................... 2 = 1% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| LAYOUT_CONTROL ............ 2 = 1% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| CLOSE ..................... 1 = 0% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| FILLET .................... 1 = 0% || 00:00:02 = 0% |

| LAYMCUR ................... 1 = 0% || 00:00:01 = 0% |

| LTSCALE ................... 1 = 0% || 00:00:05 = 1% |

| DIMSTYLE .................. 1 = 0% || 00:00:22 = 7% |

| DIST ...................... 1 = 0% || 00:00:03 = 1% |

| EXPLODE ................... 1 = 0% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| VPLAYER ................... 1 = 0% || 00:00:00 = 0% |

| EATTEDIT .................. 1 = 0% || 00:00:05 = 1% |

| || |

| TOTAL 161 || 00:05:15 |

+=======================================================================+

It would be difficult to see what time has been spent in the past.

AutoCAD's TIME command is for the most part useless as it is cumbersome to have to turn it on and off as you work. Not only that but often when you start a drawing from another drawing previously accumulated time is assigned and must be reset.

For those reasons and more I've devoted much effort in creating a time logging program specifically for CAD and other engineering related work called CadTempo. This is only one type of captured time view you will see.

It is not free but you can download a fully functioning 30 day trial from my web site in my signature. Works with all versions of AutoCAD (and LT) from R14 to 2015

That's pretty slick. I'll have to check Cadtempo out. I'm independent, but it'll help me take a better wild guess at how much to bill my clients. The TIME command is only good for seeing how long the drawing has been open. It says nothing about actual edit time. Now, if someone would just write a program that would tell the boss man how much editing was spent correcting one's own mistakes, there'd be more drafting jobs opening up.

Well if you wanted to get specific Dana, you can by creating task lists.

There are a plethora of reports that can be generated. I was recently reviewing drawings I did 5 years ago and the time from that period was still maintained.

I hope you find it worthy of continued use Dana. If it doesn't meet your needs I'm willing to entertain their inclusion.

Oh, I can think of a few computers at work that I would like to secretly install that time logging program on.

You could do that, some people do as it's a two-part program. One for logging and another for viewing. I advocate letting people know it's there and primarily for purposes other than big brother like monitoring. (I'm guessing you're joking)

BTW it should also track 3ds Max work

Something I failed to mention - CadTempo is also available on the Autodesk Exchange.

Well if you wanted to get specific Dana, you can by creating task lists.

 

 

There are a plethora of reports that can be generated. I was recently reviewing drawings I did 5 years ago and the time from that period was still maintained.

 

 

I hope you find it worthy of continued use Dana. If it doesn't meet your needs I'm willing to entertain their inclusion.

it might actually help with billing, because I am forever forgetting to log time. I will look into it.

I saw that you mentioned you are independent. I am as well and use it for billing time.

Guys re read my post you can log a dwg life as you work on it for multiple days it saves each session in one data file so you can keep a record of what you have done for a week the prod tool records all dwg's open seperately, sure you can not retro but once started away you go.

Re SPY not a problem set it going on your network in our case added to our startup on the server every one uses it so get a log of all staff and put it somewhere were its hidden.

I turned it off as with 8 staff it started to be a burden but I use it every day because of my role were most of the guys only work on one thing. You will be suprised how many commands some staff use.

No doubt that BIGAL's .lsp will tell you what your CAD operator is (or in this case isn't) doing to rack up the time on his/her drawings.

BIGAL, if you found it to be somewhat burdensome for 8 guys take a look at CadTempo. All users are easily viewed and excel spreadsheet reports can be made within the viewer with just a few button clicks.

Patrick thanks will do