I have a couple of SW file organization questions for those who have used

SW for a while.  For a couple of years, we have hired college students in

engineering to design some of our metal enclosures.  They have done a pretty

good job overall.  I am trying to better organize the files the students have

created.  But, I'm having a few issues doing it like I want.

1.  The students use a company laptop to design.  When finished, I copy the files to my

desktop.  However, I can't open the files easily because the folder structure is not the

same.  It looks like if the folder structures are different on the laptop and my

computer, the file references get broken.  I can use the Pack and Go feature, which copies

all the files to one folder, but that defeats the purpose of organization.  I like to have

different folders (Assemblies, Parts, Common Parts, Hardware, Drawings, PDF, STEP files).  Using

Pack and Go also duplicates Common Parts and Hardware unnecessarily, using this method.  I think the file

references go from the root folder down.  If they were to go backwards from the current

working folder, that would make it much easier.  Any better way to organize files efficiently?

If the answer is make the folder structures the same, or Pack and Go into one folder, then

not ideal at all, but I'll deal with it.

2.  We have assembly drawings for our enclosures, which incorporate several non-metal items. 

Basically, just to make sure things fit properly.  The metal enclosure is sent to our metal

fab via STEP files.  I don't want to send them files of anything not produced by them.  I asked

that only the metal files be sent to the metal fab.  So, a second assembly was made, with a

second set of drawings.  I find this not very efficient, because now two different assemblies

need changing if there is a modification (the full assembly and just the metal one).  Is there a better

way of handling this?

Thanks in advance.  Hopefully, several SW users may have had similar issues.  I'm wondering how

you handled it.

Sutton