Copy displays and change data sources

Review the guidelines in Guidelines for copying displays or changing data sources. These guidelines discuss which displays you must copy, important information about duplicate displays, and changes to PI AF and Data Archive.

Use the AVEVA PI Vision Display Utility to copy displays from one AVEVA PI Vision or Windows server to another and to change the data sources of displays.

1. Run the AVEVA PI Vision Display Utility:

   1. Navigate to the Program Files\PIPC\PIVisionUtilities directory.

   2. Double-click the PIVisionDisplayUtility.exe executable file.

2. On the start page, click Copy and Map Displays.

   By default, the AVEVA PI Vision Display Utility copies displays to a new location and optionally edits PI Data Archives and AF Databases.

3. On the PI Vision Server tab, select one of the following options:

   • Import, Export, or Copy displays - Default. Select this option to import or export displays using PDIX files or to copy displays from one AVEVA PI Vision server to another. You will need to specify the source and destination in the next step.

   • Edit PI Data Archives and AF Databases in existing displays - Select this option to change data sources for displays without copying the displays. You will need to enter the source connection and database in the next step.

4. On the PI Vision Server tab, specify the source:

   • PI Vision server:

     1. In the Connect to the PI Vision Server field, enter the URL of the AVEVA PI Vision server to copy from in the format https://webServer/PIVision, where webServer is the name of the AVEVA PI Vision web server. Select Connect.

     2. In the Folder field, select Browse to find and set the source AVEVA PI Vision folder where the display(s) of interest are located. You can choose to leave this field set to <root> (on servers version 2025 or later) or <home> (on servers version prior to 2025) if you want to be able to choose displays from any folder location in later steps.

   • Windows folder:

     3. In the Windows folder field, select Browse to navigate to the source location.

5. Specify the destination:

   • PI Vision server:

     4. In the Destination PI Vision Server field, enter the URL of the AVEVA PI Vision server where displays will be saved, and then select Connect.

     5. In the Folder field, select Browse to find and set the target AVEVA PI Vision folder.

   • Windows folder:

     6. In the Windows folder field, select Browse to navigate to the destination location.

6. Select Next.

7. On the Displays tab, select the displays to copy or modify.

   1. Enter the name of the display or the display owner in the filter field or scroll down to find displays.

   2. Once you find the displays you want, select the check box next to each one and select the right arrow. To move a folder and its contents, select the check box next to the folder and select the right arrow.

   3. Under Display Options, select Persist folder structure at target location if you want to use the same folder structure from the source server on the destination server. If you do not select this option, the displays are saved in the Unorganized area on the destination server.

   4. Select how to resolve duplicate display names if a display in the destination has the same name as a display selected for copying:

      Skip - Do not copy the display.

      Overwrite - Replace the existing display with the one being copied.

      Rename - Create a new copy of the display with a number appended to the name, for example, (1).

   5. If the destination is an AVEVA PI Vision server, in the Target Display Owner field, select who will own the displays after they are copied. If you leave this blank, the current Windows user becomes the display owner.

   6. If the destination is an AVEVA PI Vision server and you want to grant additional AF identity groups permissions for the copied display(s), select Choose next to Additional Display Access. The Display Access window opens where set which AF identity groups will have Read, Write, or Manage access to the displays on the destination server after they are copied.

      Important: You can use the Display Access window only to grant permissions to identities that do not already have any permission at all specified for the display(s) on the source server. If an identity already has a permission for the display(s) on the source server, that permission is retained on the destination server and any permission that you select in the Display Access window is ignored and not applied.

   7. Select Next.

8. If the destination is an AVEVA PI Vision server, on the AF Server tab, specify a new PI AF data source for the selected displays.

   To use the same PI AF data source, leave the fields blank and select Next to go to the PI Data Archive tab.

   1. In the Source field, enter the name of the source PI AF server, and then either enter a PI AF database name below or select a database from the list.

   While the utility connects to the PI AF server and provides a list of databases, it is possible to re-map servers that do not exist or cannot be connected to.

   1. In the Destination field, enter the name of the destination PI AF server, then either enter a PI AF database name below or select a database from the list.

   2. Select Next.

9. If the destination is an AVEVA PI Vision server, on the PI Data Archive tab, specify a new Data Archive data source for the selected displays.

   To use the same Data Archive data source, leave the fields blank and select Next to go to the Finish tab.

   1. In the Source field, enter the name of the source Data Archive.

   2. In the Destination field, enter the name of the destination Data Archive.

   3. Select Next.

10. On the Finish tab, review the list of displays to be copied and the list of data sources to be mapped, and select Go to begin copying the displays and mapping the data sources.

    If the Destination is a Windows folder, the selected displays are exported to the specified Windows folder as individual files with a file name of the AVEVA PI Vision display name with a PDIX extension.

11. To view the log file, select Show Log. To view an HTML report of the copied displays, select Show Report.