Civil 3D maintenance and upkeep is a huge topic. The better cures for the most common Autodesk Civil 3D maintenance issues are probably best administered in small doses over long periods of time. Rather than having to lose 20 pounds, it is far better to never gain those extra pounds in the first place. Sadly, that’s not usually how it gets done out here in the real world.
If we think about it, the entire process might even be worthy of a couple of SNL skits. I know it’s no laughing matter.
“Dave? When do we perform our regular Civil 3D maintenance?”
“What maintenance? Boss?”
Maybe this scene is more likely in your neck of the woods…
“Boss, we need to perform some regular Civil 3D maintenance and upkeep.”
“Forget it. We have three projects with deadlines we cannot miss this week.”
Many folks in Civil 3D Land seem to put off the entire Civil 3D maintenance and upkeep mess until it is time to Upgrade their production environment from one major Civil 3D release to another - say every couple of years or so. Can’t say I blame the folks.
We certainly hear from the folks when there is a new Civil 3D Release or when there is a significant Civil 3D Update available.
See The New Civil 3D 2025 Framework Products post.
Where Do We Start?
Autodesk doesn’t exactly provide a manufacturer’s Service and Maintenance Schedule with the software. Ok. There are some Best Practices covered in the Civil 3D help file that sort of allude to some things we should probably consider.
“Who reads that stuff?”
From the Autodesk perspective their Subscription offerings solve most of the software Update problems. Subscription and the Autodesk Access app means that everyone works in a pretty current release of Autodesk Civil 3D with all the latest and greatest Updates installed. That makes sense…Right?
Actually, it does.
If we’re honest about it, to get to a current and maintained Civil 3D Update state may be initially pretty painful.
The real trick is to have the corporate and/or personal discipline to maintain that Update state.
Like it or Not the Autodesk Cloud is a Good Thing
This is true for us even if we never use the Autodesk Cloud technology.
I’ve said for a long time now that the best thing about the Autodesk Cloud apps (Autodesk Docs, BIM Collaborate Pro, and the ACC – Autodesk Construction Cloud) from our perspective is the Cloud efforts finally forced Autodesk to seriously consider some of the real-world maintenance and upkeep issues for our Civil 3D projects.
See the DWG Migration for Docs post and video.
By the way, there should be a new and improved version of the DWG Migration Tools available real soon now.
The recent Civil 3D Reference Templates Redux post referred to the Autodesk Desktop Connector’s wonderous Reference Explorer Tool for good reason.
Civil 3D Reference Templates (TREF) certainly help us maintain our CAD Standards consistently.
There is a new April update for the Desktop Connector
See the Autodesk Desktop Connector 16.7.1.2154 News post for details.
Employ the Reference Explorer to produce and successfully maintain healthier Civil 3D Projects. That’s good thing.
The Civil 3D Batch Save Utility is Your Friend
These days the Autodesk Civil 3D dev team shoves most of their important functional improvements into the regular Civil 3D <release> Updates. The latest Updates to the Civil 3D Object Model in the current release get cascaded back into previous release Updates.
Yep. The Civil 3D 2023 you run today is not the Civil 3D 2023 that was first installed.
How to we ensure that our Civil 3D Templates, Civil 3D resources, Civil 3D projects and all those drawings receive the new Civil 3D Object Model updates consistently.
The Civil 3D Batch Save Utility is our best friend and wingman.
If you don’t use the BSU by now, I don’t know what to say except maybe, “I’m sorry.”
Register, login, and check out our Documentation and Help section for detailed posts and videos on how to employ Batch Save in Civil 3D. Don’t leave home without it. Eheh.
Successful Civil 3D Maintenance and Upkeep requires we employ all the useful tools that we can learn and get our hands on.
See the Top Ten Civil 3D Production Tips for 2024 post for some more important tips.
Make Civil 3D Work Better
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