CATIA Magic and No Magic modeling tools allow working on server projects when the connection to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is lost. You can make projects available offline, save changes locally, and commit them to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform when connection becomes available.

When modeling offline follow this workflow:

  1. Make a project available offline.
  2. Work on the project as usual and save changes locally.
  3. To resume your work, open the offline project.
  4. When you want to stop working on the project offline, commit changes to the server and remove the offline project version.


Making projects available offline

To start working on a project offline you have to save it locally as described below.


To make a project available offline

  1. Open a server project.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • In the main menu, select Collaborate > Save Changes Locally / Make Available Offline.
    • In the main menu, select File > Save Project.


After making a project available offline, you can work on it as usual. When you want to save project changes locally, perform the second step in the above workflow.

Offline project location

Offline projects are saved in the restricted folder of the user home directory, e.g. <disk_name>\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Local\.<modeling_tool_name>\<modeling_tool_version>\restricted. These projects are saved as multiple files in different folders, unlike the regular .mdzip files. You can only open offline projects from a modeling tool.


Opening offline projects

When you want to resume work on an offline project, you can open it either without updating, or open the project and automatically update it from the server.


To open an offline project

  1. Do one of the following:
    • In the main menu of a modeling tool, select Collaborate > Open Server Project.
    • In the main menu of a modeling tool, select Collaborate > Projects.
  2. In the open dialog, select the Offline Projects tab.

  3. If you want to update a project after loading it, right-click the project and select Update project After Load. If you do not want to update the project, proceed to the next step.

    Keep in mind that if you select to update the project after loading, this option remains selected even after reloading the project.

  4. Select the project you want to open and click the Open button.


Removing offline projects

If you want to stop working on a project offline, you need to log in to the DEXPERIENCE platform, commit the local project changes to the server, and remove the offline project version.

Force-opening server projects

Keep in mind that in order to open a project from the server, you need to remove its offline version first. If you do not remove the offline project, the modeling tool will always load the locally saved project version even if you open the project from the Online Projects tab. However, if do not want to remove the offline project for some reason, you can force-open the project from the server by doing the following:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • In the main menu of a modeling tool, select Collaborate > Open Server Project.
    • In the main menu of a modeling tool, select Collaborate > Projects.
  2. In the Online Projects tab of the open dialog, right-click a project and select Open From Server.


To remove an offline project

  1. In the main menu of a modeling tool, select Collaborate > Projects.
  2. In the open dialog, select the Offline Projects tab.
  3. Select the offline project you want to remove and click the Remove button.
  4. When you are asked if you want to remove the offline version of the project, click Yes.