If you go to Autocad’s Options, click
on the File tab and expand the Support File Search Path, you will
find a list of paths that Autocad uses to search for necessary files.
The way the file paths work is that
when searching for a necessary file, like acad.lin (the default linetype file) for example, it
looks in the path at the top of the list, then the next, then the
next… until it finds the desired file.
In my example below, I have U: at the
top. At my company, the U (User) Drive is located on the server, but
each user has their own U drive. This gives each user the ultimate control
of what files they can use as their default. Some companies may not
like this, but I like to give advanced users the ability if they so desire. The S (Autocad Support) drive is listed second and is a network location where
we keep all the shared Autocad support files. Using shared support files is an easy way to standardize your company's setup. You can use it to ensure that everyone uses the same LISP routines, linetype files, shape files, fonts, blocks, etc.
If you dive a little deeper in the "Files" tab you'll also find settings for a shared location for templates, plotter settings and such. One thing I like to do is to share the customized Autocad dictionary. That way, if someone adds a term to the library when doing a spellcheck, it adds the term for everybody in the company. I've been searching for that ability within Microsoft Office and have yet to find the secret. But in Autocad, you can do it.
