Importing schedules/ layouts etc. from a project to another

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,
I'm working on the construction documentation of a project I created in AC13.

I'd like to import some master layouts and interactive schedules I created for a different project, which is also in AC13.

What is the best way to go about the operation? Should I merge the files (one I cleaned the older one?)

Thanks!

Enrico

[Erika Epstein]

No need to merge, just use your organizer to bring in the layouts.

Have your layout book showing on the right side.

On the left side, use the button on the top left to navigate to file which has the layouts you want.

Select them and drag and drop them onto the right side.

Merging is never a good option as it brings in all the attributes of that file.

[Karl Ottenstein]

...and for the schedules, open the Scheme settings in the old file and Export the scheme(s); then import into the new file...

[davidstonearchicad21]

I have a follow up question to the above, for information purposes..

Our file sizes are circa 1GB and so if archicad loads that file in order to update the views/layouts we would be waiting an inordinately long time for the drawings on a layout to update. So my question is: Do the layouts 'import' as external drawings or are they written in to the file and become part of the current (active) file?

We haven't implemented Teamworks just yet and so with two people working on a project, our current flow involves copy and paste from one file to the other.

[Laszlo Nagy]

If you activate a Layout, then select a placed Drawing an open its Settings Dialog, there are 2 settings that you should look at.
1. The "Update Type" field: If this is set to "Automatic" then the Drawing is regenerated whenever the Layout containing it is activated (and it seem also when the Project File is opened). You could try setting this to "Manual" so it is regenerated only when you regenerate it manually.
2. The "Store Drawing in the Project File" checkbox. If this is checked, the content of the Drawing is stored in the file. This is mostly interesting when the Drawing refers to an External View located in another PLN file, because if that file is not found for some reason, the Drawing can still be generated since it is stored within the file.

So I think you could try checking this checkbox, plus set Update Type to "Manual" and see if that speeds up the opening and update process.
If you go to the Drawing Manager, you can select multiple Drawings and make these changes to all of them in a single step.

[davidstonearchicad21]

Thanks.

It looks as if the 'Store in' check box is checked by default but that doesn't cut the tie between the projects.

[Barry Kelly]

davidstonearchicad21 wrote:
Thanks.

It looks as if the 'Store in' check box is checked by default but that doesn't cut the tie between the projects.

If you use the organiser to drag layouts from one file to another, then the drawings on that layout will still be linked to the views in the original file.
You will need to select each drawing and "Link Drawing to..." a new view in the current file.
The link should say it is an "Internal" link when you look at it in the Drawing Manager - otherwise it will be showing the path to the original file.

Barry.

[davidstonearchicad21]

Thanks Barry.

I guess my priority is avoiding recreating new views in the current file - there are over 30 of them on 17 layouts - and if i have to recreate each one and then place them on the layouts, it was almost a waste of time copying&pasting them from the old file.

I understand that the views on the layouts need to link to their corresponding view of 2D draw space but can Archicad not recreate the views from the information that went across in the copy&paste?

The 'old' file (file D) contains new layouts and views and 'new' file (file M) contains new details etc. maybe there's a better way to merge?

[Barry Kelly]

davidstonearchicad21 wrote:
I understand that the views on the layouts need to link to their corresponding view of 2D draw space but can Archicad not recreate the views from the information that went across in the copy&paste?

It is a bit of a tricky one.
The views (View Map) are based on view points (Project Map) that may not even exist in your new file.
Plus the view contains settings for the layer combination, pen set, MVO, Reno filter, dimension style, etc., all of which may not exist in your new file.
So it will be a bit difficult to create a new view with these settings that don't exist.

Basically I will only copy layouts from one file to another if they already have similar views and I can simply re-link them.
Otherwise it is quicker to just create a new layout, drag the view onto it, crop and position.

Barry.

[davidstonearchicad21]

Makes sense.

Maybe a 'copy view location' button (edit-that copies to clipboard!) could provide a bit of non-teamwork functionality (where two people are working on the same project using separate files). In my search I came across a number of posts looking to do what I'm trying to achieve.

But anyway, thanks again for your detailed replies!