Where to work on files.

👋 Hi ​@Russ8494, welcome to the Box Community!

You do not need to download your AutoCAD LT files to a local drive and manually return them to Box when your edit session is complete.

Instead, you can work directly on your files using Box Drive or Box Tools:

1. Box Drive: Box Drive streams your files directly to your desktop (Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder). When you double-click a .dwg file from your local Box Drive folder, it opens in your local AutoCAD LT application. Every time you save your changes within AutoCAD, Box Drive automatically uploads and syncs those changes back to the cloud in real-time. If you need to work without an internet connection, you can mark the folder or file for “offline access,” and Box Drive will automatically upload your edits once you are back online.
    
2. Box Tools / Box Edit: If you are browsing your files on the Box web application (Box.com), you can click “Open With…” to launch AutoCAD LT on your desktop. When you save and close the file, Box Edit automatically saves the updated version back to Box.

✅ Important best practices for AutoCAD/CAD files in Box:

• Avoid manual downloads: Downloading files locally and re-uploading them manually is unnecessary and increases the risk of creating duplicate conflict copies or overwriting a colleague’s work.
   
• File locking: Since CAD files often contain external references (Xrefs) or are worked on by multiple team members, it is highly recommended to lock the file in Box Drive or on Box.com before you begin editing. This prevents other collaborators from saving conflicting edits at the same time. Once your edit session is complete and the file has finished syncing, you can unlock it.

Hope this helps! Please reach out if you have any other concerns or questions.