Trimble Connect User Forum

I feel like I was able to do this at one point but it no longer seems to be working. At our company we have a server where all of our projects are saved and with in each project folder there are specific folder structures for different disciplines. One of those folders is a Survey folder and within that is a structure that pertains to our survey work. In the past what we have been doing is setting the jobs up in Trimble sync manager, using the auto download to link the raw data to the servers raw data folder, and then manually transferring layout and control files from the server to sync manager using the reference tab in sync manager. 

However, I have been playing with the Trimble Connect sync program which allows me to link that entire Survey folder from our server to a project I create in trimble connect. So far with trimble connect and trimble sync manager it works great. all the folders I want are showing up. However, at the start of a job they are empty, so when I go to the data collector and download the project, I can see the all the folders in my sync settings but I can not check them off so that they download/get created in the controller. I have to first create a job for the folders to show up in access. That kind of defeats the whole purpose of what I am trying to do. I want to be able to control the data management of larger projects with multiple surveyors creating raw data everyday. without the folders showing up initially, I can't automate the syncing of the raw data back to our server properly. I would have to either manually rearrange surveyors initial raw data to create the folders or manually copy the folders into each surveyors controller. 

So is there a way I can get this to be more automated? 

Hello Devon,

I don't believe that Trimble Access has previously been able to download an empty folder from the cloud. At least since Trimble Access 2018 when the direct integration with Trimble Connect was created.

It is great to hear that you are exploring using Connect Sync to upload files to Connect for delivery to Trimble Access. The intention is that Trimble Access can read directly from a Connect project and for those with a company server, Connect Sync is a good way to populate the cloud for data sent "To the field". 

> Do you see any need for downloading empty folders in the "To the field" data use case?

The "From the field" data flow is currently handled completely differently and raw (field) data produced by the Surveyors is not uploaded to Connect in a way that Connect Sync can act on. 

The recommended path for returning field data to the office is to use the Trimble Sync Manager - Scheduled Download to mirror selected field data into your Company server location.
See this section of the online help for details.

The Trimble Sync Manager download will reflect the folder structure from the data collector.

The intention of this approach is to move towards a task based workflow where the next action could be triggered based on status.

If I understand this post correctly you want to be able to predefine a folder structure in order to guide the Surveyors to create their survey jobs in a specific location on the data controller.

> Is this correct?
> Is it enough to guide job creation location or would you want to force that the specified location is the only available option?

> Do you need to specify this location to the individual Surveyor (eg. ~/FromTheField/crew1/*.) or would all of your crew's place their field data into a shared location (eg. ~/FromTheField/.*)

> Should different Surveyors be able to see each other raw data?

> Would you still need to have a system level understanding of tasks and the data packaged in each task?

Regards

Chay