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Project folders

Keep a whole project on your computer, every tool's work in one folder, with no copy on ArchOverflow.

A project folder is a project kept on your computer instead of in the cloud. Every tool's work for that project goes in one folder you pick: a schedule, a wall section, a staffing plan, side by side. ArchOverflow keeps no copy.

A project lives in the cloud or in a folder, never both. While a scheme is in a project folder, pushing it to the cloud is off.

Project folders work in Chrome and Edge, which can keep a folder open for editing. The climate tools, Site GIS and Finial don't use them yet.

Start a project folder #

From a tool:

  1. Open the scheme you want to start with.
  2. In Project ▾, click New project folder from this ….
  3. Name the project, then pick where its folder goes.

The tool saves into the folder as you work. A chip with the project's name shows beside the scheme's name.

From a cloud project: on its project page, open Project settings and click Save to a folder on this computer…. Every scheme and snapshot goes into the folder. The cloud project stays until you delete it, so delete or archive it once the folder should be the only copy.

Open a project folder #

  1. In any tool, open Project ▾.
  2. Click Open a project folder… and pick the folder.

The browser asks once per tool for permission to edit the folder. After that, the folder shows under Project ▾ as a recent project folder.

If this tool has nothing in the folder yet, it offers to add the scheme on screen.

Work in a project folder #

While a folder is open, Project ▾ has:

  • the tool's other schemes in this project, one click away;
  • Add this … to the project;
  • Download as one file (.archoverflow): the whole folder as a single project file;
  • Reload from the folder: pick up changes you made in other tools;
  • Close the project folder: the folder stays on your computer.

Each tool writes only its own work and never touches the other tools' files. Before saving, it checks that nothing changed on disk since it opened the folder (another tool, another tab, a sync app). If something did, it asks you to reload first.

When you come back to a tool, a banner offers to Reconnect to the folder you were last working in.

Put a folder in the cloud #

On your account page, under Projects, click Put a project folder in the cloud… and pick the folder. Its schemes and snapshots become a new cloud project you can share. The folder stays as it is, so delete or archive it afterward to keep one copy.