Table: Files

Contains all Vault files – each representing a specific file version.
It includes paths to the source documents to be uploaded, as well as metadata such as revision, category, lifecycle state, creator information, and user-defined properties.

Columns

Column

Data Type

Can Import

Allows Null

Default

Description

FolderPath

nvarchar(257)

✅ Required

❌

Vault path of the parent folder. References Folders→FolderPath.

Name

nvarchar(240)

✅ Required

❌

File name in Vault.

🔑FilePath

nvarchar(256)

❌

❌

Auto-computed: FolderPath + Name

Full Vault file path, automatically generated by combining FolderPath and Name.

Extension

nvarchar(10)

❌

❌

Auto-computed: part of Name after last dot, in lowercase

File extension in lowercase.

ContentSourceProvider

nvarchar(20)

✅

✅

Assigned by Cmdlet based on Extension – see Remarks

Defines the content provider in Vault. Providers can be found in the Provider list when creating new property mappings.
The default for dwg files is ‘AutoCAD’, but can be changed to ‘InventorDWG’ via SQL.

Classification

nvarchar(20)

✅

❌

Assigned by Cmdlet based on Extension – see Remarks

Possible values:
• None — Standard CAD files and other types.
• DesignVisualization — Preview files. Although Vault accepts any file type as a visualization, many Vault clients only work properly with DWF files.
• DesignDocument — Design documents containing data derived from a CAD files.
To be assigned for Inventor DWGs via SQL; otherwise the linked design won’t get the Has Drawing flag in Vault.
• ConfigurationMember — Files created from a factory template like iPart members.
• ConfigurationFactory — Factory template files like iPart factories.
• ElectricalProject — Electrical CAD project files.
• DesignSubstitute — Designs which are a substitute for more complex design files.
• DesignPresentation — Presentation files containing data derived from CAD files.
• DesignRepresentation — Document files containing data derived from CAD files.

Category

nvarchar(50)

✅

✅

To be filled with a valid Vault File category. If null, DTU applies the default category.

IsHidden

bit

✅

❌

0

Indicates if the file should be visible (0) or hidden (1) in Vault. Commonly set for preview files (Classification = DesignVisualization).

Revision

nvarchar(20)

✅

✅

Revision label. The values must fit to the target Vault’s Revision Scheme Definition.

RevisionDefinition

nvarchar(100)

✅

✅

To be filled with a valid Vault Revision Scheme Definition, that is defined in the target Vault.

🔑Version

int

✅

❌

1

Unique version number, beginning with 1 for each file.

LocalSourcePath

nvarchar(2000)

✅ Required (unless _TargetChecksum is set)

✅

Absolute or relative path to the source document. Supports relative paths from the package directoy or DTU /FS parameter.

LifecycleState

nvarchar(50)

✅

✅

To be filled with a valid Vault Lifecycle State, if allowed by the Category.

LifecycleDefinition

nvarchar(100)

✅

✅

To be filled with a valid Vault Lifecycle Definition, if allowed by the Category.

CreateUser

nvarchar(100)

✅ Required

✅

Fills Vault system property Created By. Must be a valid Vault User defined in the target Vault.

CreateDate

datetime2

✅ Required

✅

Fills the Vault system properties Date Version Created and Checked In. The value must increase for every file Version !
When used together with _TargetChecksum, this value helps to identify already imported versions in the target Vault.

ModifiedDate

datetime2

✅

✅

Fills the Vault system property Date Modified. Can use a default date like GETDATE().

Comment

nvarchar(1000)

✅

✅

Optional check-in note for file version in Vault. Fills Vault system property Comment.

UDP_…

nvarchar(max)

✅

✅

Columns starting with UDP_ define user-defined properties in Vault.
They can be added as needed; there are no predefined UDP columns.

_TargetChecksum

int

❌ (set via SQL if needed)

✅

File checksum for versions already transferred to Vault. Used to detect existing versions when no LocalSourcePath available.

_OriginalBCPOverflow

xml

⚪ auto (only available when importing from a source Vault BCP package)

✅

Enables identical re-export of the BCP package.
Stores additional XML data from the original BCP file that is not captured by other columns (e.g. Id=, ACLbehavior= attributes or nodes like <ACL).

Remarks

Each Vault file version is uniquely identified by the combination of its FolderPath, file Name, and Version.
The Vault FolderPath and file Name together form the FilePath, which – along with Version – serves as the primary key of this table.

At the same time, the columns FilePath and Extension enable simple and performant queries.
Since they are PERSISTED computed columns, they are automatically updated when their underlying values change.

Vault does not support Windows MAX_PATH. Therefore, file paths must be shorter than 256 characters, and file names themselves are limited to 240 characters.

When transferring multiple file versions, it is important that each versions CreateDate is in an ascending order in combination with Version.
Otherwise, you will encounter the following error during the DTU import:
ERROR: File iteration create date cannot be earlier than previous iterations.
Values such as Category, IsHidden, Classification, but also Revision, and RevisionDefinition are stored redundantly for each file Version. Changes to these attributes should therefore always be applied to all versions (or all versions belonging to the same revision).

Examples

Retrieving all files within a specific folder together with their metadata

Invoke-Sqlcmd -ConnectionString 'Data Source=localhost\AUTODESKVAULT;User ID=sa;Password=AutodeskVault@26200;database=...' -Query @'
SELECT FolderPath, Name, Category, Classification, IsHidden, Version, LocalSourcePath, Revision, RevisionDefinition, LifecycleState, LifecycleDefinition, CreateUser, CreateDate, ModifiedDate, UDP_Author, UDP_Stock Number, ContentSource, Extension, FilePath
FROM Files
WHERE FolderPath = '$/Designs/Padlock/'
ORDER BY Version;
'@ | Format-Table

FolderPath          Name              Category     Classification       IsHidden Version  LocalSourcePath                         Revision RevisionDefinition          LifecycleState    LifecycleDefinition       CreateUser    CreateDate           ModifiedDate         UDP_Author   UDP_Stock Number  ContentSourceProvider  Extension  FilePath
------------------- ----------------- --------     -------------------- -------- -------- --------------------------------------  -------- --------------------------  ----------------  ------------------------- ------------- -------------------- -------------------  ------------ ----------------  ---------------------  ---------  ---------------------------------
$/Designs/Padlock/  Pad Lock.iam      Engineering  None                 0        1        C:\Share1\PadLock\Pad Lock.iam          A        Standard Alphabetic Format  Work In Progress  Flexible Release Process  Hannes        2024-03-10 09:42:00  2024-03-10 09:39:30  John Doe     12345             Inventor               iam        $/Designs/Padlock/Pad Lock.iam
$/Designs/Padlock/  Pad Lock.iam      Engineering  None                 0        2        \\Share2\Projects\PadLock\Pad Lock.iam  B        Standard Alphabetic Format  Released          Flexible Release Process  Albert        2024-05-12 15:20:03  2024-05-11 23:55:51  Jane Doe     12345             Inventor               iam        $/Designs/Padlock/Pad Lock.iam
$/Designs/Padlock/  Pad Lock.dwg      Engineering  None                 0        1        .\BCP1-files-0\0-1.dwg                  1.1      Standard Numberic Format                                                Max           2026-01-13 11:05:00  2026-01-13 11:05:00               67890             AutoCAD                dwg        $/Designs/Padlock/Pad Lock.dwg
$/Designs/Padlock/  Pad Lock.idw.DWF  Base         DesignVisualization  1        1        000\000\000\000\000\000\26\26_27_1.dwf                                                                                   Administrator 2025-05-13 11:05:22  2025-05-13 11:05:21                                                        dwf        $/Designs/Padlock/Pad Lock.idw.DWF

Populate missing CreateUser values with a default Vault user

UPDATE Files
SET CreateUser = 'Administrator'
WHERE CreateUser IS NULL;

Populate missing ContentSourceProvider and Classification based on their Extension

UPDATE Files
SET ContentSourceProvider =
    CASE
        WHEN Extension IN ('dwg', 'dwt') THEN 'AutoCAD'
        WHEN Extension = 'c3ddata' THEN 'AutoCADC3D'
        WHEN Extension = 'wdp' THEN 'AutoCADElectrical'
        WHEN Extension = 'faf' THEN 'FactoryAsset'
        WHEN Extension IN ('ipt', 'iam', 'idw', 'ipn', 'ide') THEN 'Inventor'
        WHEN Extension IN ('doc', 'dot', 'xls', 'xlt', 'ppt', 'pot') THEN 'Office'
        WHEN Extension IN (
            'docx', 'docm', 'dotx', 'dotm',
            'xltx', 'xltm', 'xlsx', 'xlsm', 'xlsb',
            'potx', 'pptx', 'pptm', 'potm'
        ) THEN 'OfficeOpenXML'
        WHEN Extension = 'msg' THEN 'Outlook'
        WHEN Extension IN ('rvt', 'rte') THEN 'RevitRVT'
        WHEN Extension = 'rfa' THEN 'RevitRFA'
        WHEN Extension IN ('dss', 'dsu', 'dsh') THEN 'Sheet Set Manager'
        WHEN Extension = 'dwf' THEN NULL
        ELSE 'IFilter'
    END
WHERE ContentSourceProvider IS NULL;

UPDATE Files
SET Classification =
    CASE
        WHEN Extension = 'dwf' THEN 'DesignVisualization'
        WHEN Extension = 'idw' THEN 'DesignDocument'
        WHEN Extension = 'wdp' THEN 'ElectricalProject'
        WHEN Extension = 'ipn' THEN 'DesignPresentation'
        WHEN Extension = 'pdf' THEN 'DesignRepresentation'
        ELSE 'None'
    END;