On a construction project, a drawing under internal review and one approved for construction are fundamentally different. If both share the same location and visibility, site teams cannot tell them apart, leading to work built on unfinished information and corrections that cost far more than the original mistake.
For example, a structural engineer uploads revised foundation details to a working area for design coordination. The construction manager then publishes only the approved version to the site team once sign-off is complete.
With the right file structure in place:
- Draft and approved documents are clearly separated
- Site teams only access formally released files
- Document release has a defined owner and an auditable trail
File areas
File areas in Dalux represent the stages a document moves through before it reaches the site. Dalux Box uses: Files for work in progress, and Published files for documents authorized for construction use.
They are not separate storage locations but access-controlled stages in the same environment. Each carries its own permission rules: the work in progress area is typically limited to the design team, while the published area is open to contractors and site management.
Drawings only appear in the Locations module once they have been authorized to the published area. Without this separation, there is no reliable way to know which documents are safe to build from. File areas enforce that boundary structurally.
How to set up file areas
Set up file areas in your Box settings.
You can assign publish permissions to the relevant user group in the user settings when selecting folders.
Note
In Dalux Box Standard, files are published manually. A designated role reviews and authorizes files before they reach Published files
Best practice for file areas
Activate file areas
Files and Published files are the minimum required for any project with a design and construction team. Only add a third file area if it is necessary.
Assign a single publishing responsibility
Before any files are published, assign publish permissions to one user group, for example, a "Design manager" group responsible for reviewing and authorizing documents to Published files. Unclear ownership of document release is one of the most common causes of error on live projects.
Keep publishing controlled
The manual review ensures documents meet quality and coordination requirements before reaching the site.
Read more
We recommend following the step-by-step articles before deep-diving into features, but if you want to read about file areas and publishing in more detail, read this article: File areas.
With your file areas defined, you are ready to structure how teams communicate around documents.