The CollabPro Extension enables multiple people to simultaneously work on different sections of a Project, without the hassle of manually keeping track of changes.

Drawings collaborated on will automatically be stored in a cloud storage, which you can then use your MyConfigura account for management.

This article serves as a guide into using this Extension as a first timer.

Creating a Project

Under File -> CollabPro, click Create or manage project to open the CollabPro cloud.
Or follow this link:
https://app.configura.com/my/collaboration

The CollabPro cloud is where you can manage CollabPro Projects using your MyConfigura account.
Click on Create new project to create and name your first Project. 

Depending on your CollabPro subscription tier, the Total project storage and number of concurrent users per project () will differ.
Check here for the latest subscription tier pricing in the Marketplace.

The Total project storage refers to the total storage sizes of all projects created by the user.
Concurrent users refer to the number of users working on a project at the same time.

Opening a Project

Projects created in your CollabPro cloud will be displayed in the File -> CollabPro section.  Active projects will be displayed on the upper left, recent projects will be displayed on the lower left, and all projects will be displayed on the right.  You may use the search bar on top to search for projects, and you may click the Sync for updates button to sync your account to show any projects that might not be listed.

If your account is added into a Project by someone else, you will see it here as well.

Double-clicking on one of the Projects will open that project in CET and the CollabPro File Manager dialog will automatically open.

On the left side of this dialog is All Files, this holds all the files related to the project including files stored in the cloud. It will stay updated to the changes uploaded into the cloud.

On the right side are files in your computer, Open Files. These are the files you have created, and files downloaded from the cloud, opened up for editing.

To hide All Files, you can click on the Hide All Files button.
There are a lot of amazing features within this dialog and will be covered extensively in this article.

Working On The Project

Sections

You can create sections in your CollabPro project two ways.  You can either place a component in the blank drawing to automatically create a section, or you can create a section manually.  

If you place a component into a blank drawing, a New Section is automatically created, and is indicated in the 2D, 3D Toolbar, and CollabPro File Manger:

A random color is assigned to the Section, and the color is shown in the 2D background. You can change the Section color by clicking on the colored circle of your Section under Open Files.

Sections are segments of a drawing intended to be editable by only one user at any given time. This is to prevent any editing conflicts between multiple users.

To manually add a Section, from the CollabPro file manager dialog, click on the New dropdown, then click Create a new section.

Paper Group

Similar to Sections and Components, Paper Groups are groups of papers designed to be editable to only one user at a time.

You can create Paper Groups in your CollabPro project two ways.  You can either Insert a new paper in your drawing in Paperview to automatically create a new Paper Group, or you can create a one manually.  

If you insert a new paper into your drawing, a New paper group is automatically created, and is indicated in the 2D Toolbar and CollabPro File Manger:

To manually add a Paper Group, from the CollabPro file manager dialog, click on the New dropdown, then click Create a new paper group.  

We can see the paper is now enveloped by its color, the 2D toolbar shows the selected Paper Group, and the paper previews being grouped and colored by its Paper Group.

Attachments

Have other files related to the Project? You can add them to the Project as Attachments!

Simply click on the Import new attachments button, select the file from your computer.  It is now a part of your Project, up to date for everyone to edit and refer to.

Saving Your Changes and Uploading

Because work is being collaborated live with other users, the concept of "Saving" is a little different while using CollabPro. Here we increment each file's Version to help indicate changes.

To do so, click on the Save all button within the CollabPro File Manager.  A new dialog will pop up, showing all the files that have changes.

Each file that is being saved is tied to a comment to describe the changes. This is useful for understanding the Project's version history.  After adding a comment, click the Save button.

After Saving, when hovering over the Saved status, a tooltip will say "Available on this machine only".  This is to indicate that your changes have been saved, however they have not yet been uploaded to the project.  Saving without uploading means your changes will not be seen by other users.

The benefit of saving your files locally prior to uploading has special uses, such as being able to revert to previous versions.

To upload your saved changes, click on the Upload all button.  After uploading, your changes will be visible for the rest of the people collaborating on the project, the status will be listed as Uploaded, and hovering over the status will read "Shared with others".

Releasing Files

To the right of each file within the CollabPro File Manager, there is an Edit icon.  This indicates you are holding these files for editing, preventing others from editing it.

To release the files for others, simply select the toggle between Edit and View-Only state. When a file is set to View-Only, other may edit that section.  Only one person may have a file set to Edit at any given time.  Only 7 files can be edited per user due to server limitations.  Below, a file that has been released is selected.  The Switch to edit button is available, indicating that the selected file is in View-Only mode.

When selecting a file that has not been released, the Switch to view only button will be available, indicating that the selected file is in Editing mode.

You may complete the Upload and the Release in one step to save time.  Click the down arrow below the Upload all button and select Upload all & set to release from the dropdown.

After uploading and releasing, all edited files will be set to View only mode.

You can read more about different file states and statuses here.

Working With Other Users

While others are working on the same Project, you can watch changes happen in real-time.
This includes part Part Tagging, Categorization, Level names, Currency, Currency Rate, Filters, and Labels.

To start collaborating with other users, you'll need to create different Roles and Invite Users, which we have covered in MyConfigura Cloud Management.