Cleanup transforms
Real folders are messy: stray spaces, “_FINAL” tacked on, underscores where your standard wants hyphens. Cleanup transforms tidy those up before CADKeeper matches a name against your standard — so a fixable file gets fixed instead of flagged.
What a cleanup transform is
A cleanup transform is a normalizing find-and-replace rule applied to a file name as a pre-processing step. CADKeeper runs your transforms first, then checks the tidied name against your ruleset and proposes the final corrected name. They don't touch the file on disk on their own — they shape what the matcher sees, and any resulting rename still flows through the usual preview → approve → apply → rollback path.
Why they help
Without a transform, a name that's almost right gets reported as a violation and either needs a hand-written fix or clutters your results. A small transform turns a whole class of these into automatic, correct renames — the difference between reviewing 400 flags and reviewing 4.
Examples
- Normalize separators. Replace _ with - so 24015_C_101.dwg becomes 24015-C-101.dwg before matching a hyphen-based standard.
- Strip junk suffixes. Remove _FINAL, _v2, or a trailing (1) so 24015-C-101_FINAL.dwg is evaluated as 24015-C-101.dwg.
- Collapse whitespace. Turn double spaces or a stray space into nothing, so 24015 - C - 101.dwg lines up with the pattern.
- Fix casing on a token. Rewrite reva to RevA so the revision field matches.
Each transform is a simple find-and-replace; you can chain several, and they run in order.
When not to use one
Transforms are for consistent, mechanical messiness. If a name is genuinely wrong — the wrong project code, a discipline that doesn't exist — that's a real violation you want CADKeeper to flag, not paper over. Keep transforms narrow so they clean up noise without hiding actual problems. As always, the preview shows you every resulting change before anything is applied.