Access ends before anyone takes a copy
The shared project space is closed a few months after completion, and the request for a copy arrives a year later, when a defect or a dispute needs the drawings as they were issued.
Completion · Export centre
How to archive construction project documents at completion
When a project reaches completion, the client, the contractor and often each consultant want a copy of the project’s files that they hold themselves, in the folders the team used, with a list that says what each file is. Shared project spaces close, subscriptions lapse and people move on, so the copy has to be taken while everything is still in place. Fidrel’s Export centre takes it as one ZIP file with the folders kept and, if you ask for it, a CSV list of every file.
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Why project archives turn out incomplete
Folder by folder, something is missed
Downloading a large project one folder at a time loses the structure, skips a subfolder nobody opened, and saves two files with the same name over each other.
A heap of files with no index
Without a list of numbers, revisions and statuses, the archive cannot answer which revision of a drawing was the last one, short of opening every file in turn.
What a completion archive should contain
A useful archive holds the current issue of every drawing and document, the as-constructed record, the specifications and reports, the contract documents the team kept in the project, and an index that identifies each file. It is organised the way the team worked, so that someone who was not on the project can find the structural drawings or the fire strategy without help. Decide before you export who is to hold the archive, where it will be kept and who may open it.
Documents, drawings & models
What the ZIP holds
The archive contains the current version of each file, in its folder, with the project’s folder names as the path. Where two files in one folder share a name, Fidrel keeps them apart instead of writing one over the other. Files that sit in no folder go into a folder of their own named Without a folder. A file that cannot be read is left out and named afterwards; a file that breaks off half way fails the whole export, so a ZIP never holds a file cut short. The ZIP is named after the project and the day of the export.
Taking the archive copy in Fidrel
Step 1
Tidy the project first
Upload the final revisions, set as-constructed drawings to As-constructed record, and restore anything deleted by mistake: deleted files and folders can be restored for 30 days, after which they cannot reach any archive.
Step 2
Open the Export centre
The Export centre stands under Administration in the project menu, beside the Import centre. Anyone with access to the project’s documents can use it, and each person exports only what they may read.
Step 3
Choose what goes in
Choose Everything you can read here for the whole project, or Selected folders for a part of it, and keep Include a list of the files (CSV) ticked so the archive carries its own index.
Step 4
Export as ZIP and check the result
Choose Export as ZIP. In Chrome and Edge you choose where the file is saved and it is written straight to disk. When it finishes, Fidrel names any files that could not be read and are therefore not in the archive.
The CSV list that goes with it
With the list ticked, the ZIP carries a CSV file with one row per file: Folder, File, Title, Number, Revision, Status and Size (bytes). Years later it answers which revision of a drawing is in the archive and whether it was published for construction, without opening anything, and it opens in any spreadsheet.
Who should take the copy
The Export centre reads each file with the exporting person’s own rights, through the same route as a single download. A folder that is open only to administrators or to named people goes into the archive only if the person exporting may open it. Administrators retain access, so a project administrator is the right person to take the complete copy, while a consultant or subcontractor can take a copy of the part they see.
Large projects and separate areas
In Chrome and Edge, which write the file straight to disk, one export can hold up to 3.5 GB and 20,000 files. Other browsers build the file in memory and stop at 100 MB. A larger project is exported in parts with Selected folders, for example by stage or by discipline, and Fidrel says before it starts when a choice is too large. Facilities management and procurement have their own Export centre for their folders, so the archive of the build can be kept apart from the documents of running the building.
What the export does not do
Only the current version of each file goes into the ZIP; earlier revisions stay in Fidrel and are not archived by the export. Registers such as RFIs, the site diary, non-conformances, variations and meeting minutes are records, not files, and are not in the ZIP. Fidrel does not decide how long project records must be kept or hold a long-term archive for you; where and for how long the copy is kept is your decision. The export takes a copy and moves nothing, so the project stays in Fidrel as it was.
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Completion · Export centre
Frequently asked questions
Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usOpen the Export centre under Administration, choose everything or selected folders, tick the CSV list and export as ZIP. Then store the file wherever your organisation keeps project records.
No. The ZIP holds the current version of each file. Earlier revisions remain in the project and can be downloaded one by one from a document’s versions.
Yes. Every file sits in the ZIP under the path of its folders in the project, and files with the same name in one folder are kept apart.
One row for each file, with its folder, file name, title, number, revision, status and size in bytes, so the archive can be searched without opening the files.
Up to 3.5 GB and 20,000 files in Chrome and Edge, and up to 100 MB in other browsers. Larger projects are exported in parts by choosing folders.
Yes. Each person exports what they may read in the project, so the client’s administrator and the contractor’s team can each take their own archive.