Layers AC29

[Guillermo1]

Hi, is there a way to select or show all empty layers? in a schedule or in the atribute manager?

Operating system used: Mac Intel-based Tahoe 26.4

[CosminF]

Hi, 

You can try to purge and then see what the layers are that AC wants to purge and you would know those are empty.

[Laszlo Nagy]

That is not necessarily true.

The Attribute Manager will consider the Layer (this is true for other attributes as well) to be used in two additional cases:

1. A Tool's default settings refer to the Layer.

2. A Favorite refers to the Layer.

In both cases, if you go to the Attribute Manager, you will see the checkmark before the name of the Layer, indicating that it is in use, even though there are no elements placed on that Layer.

So, if you try to Purge Layers, some Layers may not get purged because they are used by Tool default settings or Favorites. So, that method may or may not give you all empty layers.

[CosminF]

Thank you for the correction.

To be honest I wasn’t aware that is the case with favourite layers. Now I know. 

Usually the used layers from the template are a mainstay so I was assuming that you’d only want to purge if your layers have added up over time from other sources (pasting from other files, exploding dwg’s, etc).

Then yes, you’re right, it might not be good idea to use purge. 

[Laszlo Nagy]

I thought a little bit more about this to see if I can come up with any way to find which layers are empty.

I think that even if it can be done, it may only be possible in Python or using the Archicad API. Without programming, I do not see a simple way.

If we try to use Schedules to list all elements and their layers, that still does not work because there are many element types that may be placed on Layers but will not be included in the Schedule.

So, maybe, this Purge command is still the closest solution. I would do it this way:

1. Save a copy of the Project file because we will need to make temporary modifications to it.

2. Delete all Favorites. This way, we can guarantee that there are no Favorites that refer to empty Layers.

3. Set all Tool's default Layer to "Archicad Layer". This way, we can guarantee that no Tool refers to empty Layers. You can do this quickly using the Active Layer Palette. Here is how:

1. Go to the Work Environment's "Menus" page, in the "Command and Menus" list, select All commands (by theme or in alphabetical order), and search for this command: "Active Layer". Add this command to the menu.
2. Click OK to leave the Dialog, and activate the Active Layer command, which will display a simple Palette with too long horizontal buttons.
3. Select the Wall tool in the Toolbox and switch to the "Archicad Layer" Layer in the Info Box.
4. Click the "One Active Layer for all Element types" button in the Palette. This will set the default Layer of all tools to the Archicad Layer, so you do not have to do it for every tool one by one. It will also set the default Layer for MEP tools, which are not visible in the Toolbox.
5. Close the Palette, and click the "Keep Curren Layer" button. This will make sure that all tools now use the Archicad Layer and do not revert to their previous Layer.

4. Now, you can go to the Attribute Manager, and activate the Layers tab. In the Layers list in the lower left, click the title of the very first column (where the checkboxes are) to sort by that column. Now, you will find that all Layers in the list that do not have a checkmark before their name are indeed empty Layers because now there are no Favorites and Tools that refer to them.