Combining or Merging Detail Libraries

Issue

You need to combine or merge multiple detail libraries.

For example, you might have have two sets of details on two different drives. You’d like to copy one of these libraries to a new folder location, set that folder as the location Land F/X uses, and copy the other library into that folder.

Solution

Our software organizes your detail library via a system of subfolders. Each of your detail libraries will include at least one of these subfolders, and each subfolder will include details.

To combine detail libraries, you can simply copy the subfolders from one detail library into another one. When you do so, Windows will prompt you to either skip, overwrite, or keep both copies of any duplicates.

Here’s how to combine detail libraries:

1. Make a decision on which of your detail libraries you want to become the master. Ideally, it should be the library that has the most recent version of any duplicate details you plan to keep.

2. Once you’ve decided on a master detail library, copy any additional subfolders from the other detail library into the master one.

 

 

In this example, we’ll copy a detail subfolder named T from one detail library into another one, which we’ve deemed our master library.

Important: Each time you copy a subfolder from one detail library into another, Windows will prompt you to either skip, overwrite, or keep both copies of any duplicates. Select the option that allows you to keep the most recent version of the details you're copying over. Ideally, your master library should include the most recent versions of your details. If so, select Skip to only copy the non-duplicate details over. Alternately, if you're copying a more recent version over, select Overwrite to replace the older version with the newer version. Just take care not to overwrite the most recent versions of your details!

3. Open the Details Preferences screen, and ensure that the correct detail folder is assigned as the detail library.

 

If not, click Browse and follow our steps to assign the correct detail library.

4. Open the Detail Explorer. Note that the detail categories you’ve copied into your detail library won't show up automatically. In our example, the Detail Explorer lists the FX category but not the T category we’ve copied over.

 

 

To bring in these categories, you’ll need to create a new detail category corresponding to each subfolder you've copied into your master detail library. You can name these categories any way you want – just make sure the letter code of each category matches the letter code of the corresponding detail subfolder. So if you’ve copied a detail subfolder named T into your master library, create a category with the code T.

Note that you’ll also need to create a category for each subfolder within the folders of details you’ve copied over. So if our T folder contains a subfolder with the code DE, we’ll also need to create a subcategory named DE within the T category in the Detail Explorer.

Once you’ve created all the necessary categories, the software will automatically find any category that contains a detail file. You don’t need to import individual details – just create the categories that contain them. Just make sure you’re keeping the latest version of each of your details.

Still not seeing your details?

If you're bringing details from a previous folder structure, the details are likely named to match that structure.

 

In the example below, only the detail P-LA-01 is named correctly for its folder structure. The rest of the details shown have not.

 

 

 

In this case, you'll also need to rename the detail file and the corresponding XML and slide files to match the new folder structure. Although you can do so by renaming the files within File Explorer, we suggest going through the process of saving the details into the system using our Save Detail tool.