Annoying Private State Files

[DanBovinich]

I'm an admin for PDM at our company.

I have two problems with "Private state" files.

1) I turned off every group's > Folder Permissions > Assigned Folder Permissions > "May see files before initial check in (Private State)

But I still see them . I went into my user profile and its off there also.

2) We fired/laid off people, and our IT people reformatted the computers. If the fired/laid off person had files on their computer, in PDM, but never checked in, and I delete the user, I still see the "Private State" files listed when I do a "checked out" file search. Very annoying.

I suspect that the database for PDM keeps the info in it, even though the offending computer was reformatted and the user deleted?

Any ideas to correct this problem?

[JSculley]

Log in as the 'admin' user and delete the files.

[DanBovinich]

I'm not sure how to do that. When I RMC on the Blueberry, I log out. Then when I RMC again, my choices are to login, but doesn't give me a credentials screen. I logs me in as my windows log-in.

Please advise,

Dan

[AlexLachance]

Hey Dan,

This is the answer a SolidWorks guy gave on their platform.

1. If a user at some point added, but did not check in their files before the client system was removed or view was deleted - those files will remain in "private state".


The "Admin" login is currently the only user that can release and/or delete those private state files. We are considering (possibly in SWPDM 2023) of expanding this permission to become a separate administrative permission so that "regular" administrators that do not use "Admin" also can do this.


2. In SWPDM 2023, we've expanded the private state options that are available when searching. You can now exclude private state files from showing in search results, or the opposite - only search for private state files. Should make administering such files a bit easier.


Regards -Tor, PDM support

Eric Beatty also suggested this:

Hello @Dan Bovinich ​​​​​​​. IIRC, I believe that if you login using the built-in "admin" PDM account, you can search for AND delete those private state files from the database. The admin account is the ONLY user account that has this ability.​​​​​​​ I had to do this last year when one of my users went on medical leave and never came back, leaving over 400 files in Private State.

[AlexB]

I'm not sure how to do that. When I RMC on the Blueberry, I log out. Then when I RMC again, my choices are to login, but doesn't give me a credentials screen. I logs me in as my windows log-in.

Please advise,

Dan

If you launch the Administration tool, you can select under Local Settings at the bottom of the tree, Settings. It should open the dialog box shown below. Uncheck automatic login in order to receive the login prompt and switch user accounts.

[DanBovinich]

If you launch the Administration tool, you can select under Local Settings at the bottom of the tree, Settings. It should open the dialog box shown below. Uncheck automatic login in order to receive the login prompt and switch user accounts.
image.png

Alex, THANK YOU for the help! Everything now works, I deleted the files.

Dan Bovinich

[DanBovinich]

Log in as the 'admin' user and delete the files.

THANK YOU JScully, it worked perfectly! Keep up the good work...

Dan Bovinich