I know companies are hesitant to use Vault with Civil 3D.  We were when we got started and it was a big decision for us, but now, I don’t know how we would live without Vault.  From either working on projects from remote locations – which now is easily possible – or having to send out (or pull-up) old CAD drawings for whatever reason, it just gives such piece of mind and flexibility.  I can’t tell you how may times a client has called me and wanted AutoCAD drawings from 2-3 weeks ago – before we started the last set of revisions – because it matched the paper copies he/she sent out to bid (unknown to use; private work).  Before, they were out of luck OR it involved tracking down backups with our I.T. department; a timely process.  But now with Vault, we can quickly address their needs.

Also, sometimes you need to backtrack during the design process.  Maybe it is a client change that makes more sense to go back to last weeks file(s) and start from there or maybe you just need a couple of drawing objects from last weeks file(s).  Additionally – and I know this never happens at your firm – maybe someone inadvertently screws something up in “your” file or deleted something that was needed.  With Vault, no problem!  – just restore the Previous Version.

Learn how after the jump…

To restore a files previous version you need to use Vault Explorer.

Browse to the files folder in the left pane and select the file in the upper-right panel as show below.  After the file is highlighted look in the lower-right panel.  There you will find all the previous versions with dates and comments.  Find the dated, or commented, version you want to restore and right-click on the version and select "Get Previous Version…".

You will be presented with the below dialog box.

1) Verify the version it is coping out is the correct version number.
2) Click "Settings…" and clear the check-box beside "Include Children".
3) Click "OK" and "OK" again…

Next, verify the file in Vault Explorer now has a RED dot.  This indicates there is an old version now on you C: drive.  Which is exactly what we want.

Finally, in Civil 3D browse to the file in Prospector, right-click and hit "Check-out…".

1) In the check-out dialog, clear the check-box beside "Get Latest Version…".
2) Click "OK".

You will immediately be prompted with the below dialog.  Typically you would select yes, but in this case select "No".

The file that will be opened is now directly from your C: drive; which is the old version (version 19 in our example).  Make any changes and check-in the file.  Note, the version(s) you skipped over will still be in Vault if they are ever needed in the future.

THAT’S IT… hope this helps.