View Contents of Zip Files in Vault

Here’s another handy tip on managing and viewing compressed files in Vault. With the 2011 release, you can use the Preview tab to view not only DWF/DWFx files, but a variety of other file types as well. Some that come to mind are MS Office files such as Excel and Word, and don’t forget PDF and other file types that make up a project or job. Remember, Vault is for more than CAD files.

There are settings for the preview of file types, and this is found from Tools>Options> Document Previewers button. Click on this and you’ll see the supported file extensions for preview. Now for the best part…

Select a Vault folder and right-click, Add Files. Find a .zip file and upload to Vault. Next, select the file and click the Preview tab. The Contents of the .zip will list out along with their file types and Compressed Size. Ratio, etc data from the .zip. Nice.

-Brian Schanen