This is Part 3 of a multi-part series on the Autodesk Content Browser. This article will address establishing the library to which the Content Browser will look.
Part 1 of the series addresses why you would want to use the Content Browser and how to get to it. Read it here.
Part 2 of the series addresses how the Content Browser is organized. Read it here.
As you start to customize it, an important note is that it is possible to only have one library open at a time. If you desire to open a different library, you will need to make sure that you are at the Home page of the Content Browser. You can get to the Home page by selecting the house icon at the top left portion of any page within the Content Browser.
Change to a Different Library
While on the Home page, right-click in an open area of the Content Browser and select Open Library… from the shortcut menu. In the dialog box, browse to the location that contains the desired library file (with the .cbl extension), select the file, and pick the Open button.
If you desire to create a new library file, follow the same procedure as above except for selecting the New Library… option from the shortcut menu and then specifying the desired name and location for the new Library file.
Default Content Browser Library file names for recent releases are:
- ContentBrowserLibrary.cbl (Architectural Desktop 2004)
- ContentBrowserLibrary45.cbl (Architectural Desktop 2005)
- ContentBrowserLibrary47.cbl (Architectural Desktop 2006)
- ContentBrowserLibrary50.cbl (Architectural Desktop 2007)
- ContentBrowserLibrary.cbl (AutoCAD Architecture 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)
Make the Content Browser look at a different Library by default
There are a couple of different methods to make a different library be the default when the users open their Content Browser.
The first method is when using the Deployment Wizard utility. This method is only valid during the installation process of the software when installing seats via a deployment image.
While in the Deployment Wizard, go into Configuration and select a Custom installation type. When you get to the Configure page, scroll down to the Select Content Browser Library section and place a checkmark next to the “Modify Content Browser Library file location” option. Directly under that option, specify the desired location for the library that will be referenced by all users. Complete the configuration process as desired.
Note that when a server-based Library file (.cbl) is specified, the user will not be able to edit their Content Browser preferences to display it differently. This prevents a user from being able to display a different number of rows per page which is a common change for users to desire.
The second method of pointing the Content Browser to a different library is done after AutoCAD Architecture has been installed on the computer.
You can create an ASCII text document named ContentBrowser.ini and put it in the root folder of the AutoCAD Architecture 2014 install directory. This file lets you direct Content Browser to the location of the desired content browser library (.cbl) file.
In this new ContentBrowser.ini text file, you must enter the following text making sure that you add a carriage return after the last line:
[Files]
Library=<Complete path and filename to the .cbl file>
The following is an example for a library named “MyCompany” located on the L: drive:
What’s next?
The next article will address how to add catalogs to the Content Browser. Read it here.
Applying Technology to Architecture 