Link Details/Drawing from External File

[Anonymous]

I am sure this question has been asked before, but what, in your opinion, is the best practice for linking detail drawings from an external source? We are developing a library of typical details in an external file (including placed views on layouts for purposes of linked detail and section markers).

Ideally, I would like to copy them from the external layout to the project layouts and have everything link properly, however each time we do this the linking is unsuccessful with error messages.

The method I do not want is to individually place each detail into each of our projects and have to place and crop each drawing because this is time consuming and we have 4 separate project files that all need to insert 70-100 details. An alternate work around is creating a PDF and pasting into the project layouts but then we have to custom link detail markers that are live in the file.

As with everything in archicad, there are multiple methods to achieving the same results so I want to know what is working best for others and/or if there is yet another method we should try.

** Also, for updating these drawings, recommend Auto or Manual updates and/or Store Drawing in the Project File??

Thanks!!

[Gerry Leonor]

we've done something similar with a "Details" file which houses every relevant detail we use. from details we draw once & use it multiple times such as fire hose reel cabinet enclosures, to parts of details we copy/paste & may well be different from one project to another -- ie. door/window profile extrusions

with the one-time drawn details we have them saved in the View Map as independent details, place them on the layout book (cropped as needed). anytime i need this FHR cabinet detail, i simply copy the placed drawing from the layout book, & paste it into the current project file layout. if i'm positively sure that this detail will never change, i break the link in the drawing manager. the good thing with this is that if i do an "Update All Drawings" in the current project, this stops the unwanted launching of the Details file just to update the detail drawing that never changes.

i'm unsure as to why you're having issues with the external link drawings. but i typically don't have 'actively' linked drawings to the Details file. if i have a detail in there that needs to be different for this particular project, i copy the entire detail drawing, paste it in the current project, then amend as required. any active link detail drawing (either auto or manual update) is dangerous in my opinion. it will affect all other projects that are linked to that detail if you make any changes & you may not want that.