...or how file naming can affect the workflow of ArchiCAD hotlink modules
From Final.pdf, NewFinal.pdf, NewFinalFinal.pdf, TheNewFinalestFinal.pdf to IcannotCopeWithThisS**tAnymoreFinal.pdf... If you are a designer, this may sound familiar to you.
Under the stress of meeting that deadline and getting the presentation out the door, we tend to rush by quickly saving our work within easy reach (usually desktop) and, most of the time, under questionable names. This happens because of saving and resaving our documents multiple times since there is always something that we (or others reviewing our work) only notice once the document has been saved. Perfectionists... We should aim for progress, rather than perfection, but that is a story for another time.
The point is that I have been in this position myself and although I routinely keep my file naming and location under control, I tend to slip when harried and end up with half a dozen final.pdf/dwg/etc files scattered across my desktop.
When the pressure is off, I consciously revise and tidy up my files to ensure that both myself and everyone else involved in the project can locate the files I created. That is good housekeeping, and I am grateful that I put the time into cleaning up and organising my docs. when in six months I need to retrieve or double-check something. This is future-proofing.
Tagging and sensibly naming your files helps with working efficiently in general, but especially when dealing with complex projects in teamwork, when many users are producing and issuing information from within the project at the same time. The beauty of ArchiCAD is that it allows multiple users to work at the same time on a given project, in a collaborative way, with minimal interference. That makes ArchiCAD a successful piece of software for architectural practices working collaboratively, regardless of their physical location, thanks to a central cloud server, courtesy of Graphisoft. Consequently, following a naming convention becomes crucial when there are lots of people involved in the project you are working on or when you are involved in multiple projects. Or both. At the same time.
In our zealous pursuit of creating the perfect descriptive name, we overlook that ArchiCAD, and operating systems in general, are not particularly happy about one aspect: special characters.
Given the amount of information we are exposed to every day, forgetting is easy and the best way to ensure no vital piece of information gets lost is to add a descriptive name for views, modules, layouts and everything that needs naming the project tree. Not only does a systematic naming protocol allow us to easily locate files, but also ensures easy cooperation between the users in the teamwork project. But in our quest to find the right terms to name files, we tend to use the whole keyboard palette, because the OCD in our perfectionist personality surfaces when we see a blank space – guilty of that. In our zealous pursuit of creating the perfect descriptive name, we overlook that ArchiCAD, and operating systems in general, are not particularly happy about one aspect: special characters.
A special character is a letter or symbol that is being utilised by specific functions in file systems and using them in file names can lead to problems such as files being deleted or not being able to be accessed.
For instance, Windows has restrictions on characters like, but not limited to:
| (vertical bar)
/ (forward slash)
\ (backslash)
: (column)
* (asterix)
? (question mark)
“ (quote)
< (less than)
> (greater than)
^ (caret).
Likewise, macOS has issues with characters such as / (forward slashes) : (column) and ,(comma). Some backup systems or data transfer methods may have limitations or difficulties when dealing with files containing special characters in their names. Even a simple space at the start or the end of a file name can cause issues, especially in cloud storage and file-sharing systems.
ArchiCAD is no exception when it comes to the use of special characters in file naming. Although it will merely allow users to use all characters and symbols they desire within the project file, the output of the file name may change or generate errors. For example, a drawing layout named Window/ Door Jamb Detail 1:50 @ A3 will be saved in the file directory as Window-Door Jamb Detail 1_50_ A3. Whilst hotlink modules allow users to use special characters, those may lead to hidden errors and glitches that are difficult to grasp from the generic error message ArchiCAD produces, especially when the project is well advanced.
The following error was generated when several hotlink modules within a project file could not be updated, but it did not point to the specific issue that was causing that. It turned out that hotlinked modules that contained , (comma), : column and & (ampersand) were the troublemakers that even with a clear cache memory, modules re-saved and re-linked, the error would not go away. Only after the special characters had been removed, and the files re-saved with a ‘clean’ name on the BIMCloud and re-linked back into the project did the error disappear. While this seems obvious at the time of writing, identifying this issue several
months into the project, after everything worked simply fine, was far from evident.
ArchiCAD teamwork files that use hotlink modules are sensitive enough systems, so labelling of linked files should be treated with caution so that it does not affect their functionality - handy hint: re-linking hotlink modules that carry documenting information is to be avoided in teamwork files, since already placed labels and dimensions can be lost in the process and re-adding them is a laborious and time-consuming exercise.
In general, it is best to stick to alphanumeric characters, _ (underscores), and - (hyphens) for file names to ensure compatibility and ease of use across different systems and applications. If you need to include additional information or symbols in a file name, consider using a consistent naming convention and encoding special characters as needed to maintain compatibility. Keep this in mind the next time you need to name a file to avoid incompatible file naming messing up the entire teamwork apparatus.
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