🗂️ File Management
Our job files are CAD files and have a DAB (CAD Database) extension, and unlike other programs, we can have multiple Model names in one DAB file.
Most Roof Wizard users will use the file name as the customer’s name, eg Billy_Bobs_Construction (the software adds the DAB) and his project name is typically the address. So you might do a dozen jobs for ‘Bill Bobs Construction’ and they all go into that file. This makes jobs easy to find. There are 100’s of variations on this theme.
📁 Keeping large customer files manageable
For example, if you do a ton of work for Billy Bob, then you might break the file name into periods, like:
Billy_Bob_2021.dab
Billy_Bob_Q1_2021.dab
…so you don’t have 100’s of jobs in one database that becomes huge and unwieldy.
When you open a DAB file, the software loads the entire file into RAM, even if you are only using a fraction of it, so this is a useful consideration.
🧠 Real-world example (why this matters)
I had a situation once where the young lady was saving exactly as described here, but she had a file called “Other_Builders” and she did a heap of work for other builders. Over a few years without archiving anything, that file was over 800Mbytes, and she was concerned it took so long to open and save. She now uses Other_Builders_2020.dab.
⚠️ Important: filename + path length limit (126 characters)
One oddity that you should take account of is that the length of the file name is limited to 126 characters (long story) and that includes the path:
C:\AppliCad\Roof Wizard\User\Billy_Bob_Construction.dab\100_High_Street-Unit12
If you exceed the limit the file name is truncated and typically the operator thinks it hasn’t saved and saves it again, now he/she has two copies of the same job with incomplete names. Yes, not ideal, but that is how it works.
So encourage the guys to use meaningful abbreviations whenever possible.
Example:
Billy_Bob_Const.dab\100_High_St-U-12
This will save aggravation later.