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Dear Community Members,
Keeping your schedules visually consistent is essential for professional documentation. This month’s tip focuses on a quick solution shared by @AllanP and @Laszlo Nagy to update automatic dimensions in schedules globally.
The challenge
Based on a question raised by @ELEVATE1 on the forum, the topic focuses on Door and Window Schedules with automatic dimensions enabled in preview cells. In some cases, these dimensions may appear with inconsistent pen sets, font sizes, or marker styles. Adjusting the dimension settings cell by cell can be time-consuming. The method below shows how to update the dimension settings for all schedule items at once, helping ensure consistency across the schedule.
The solution
Update the Default Settings of the Dimension Tool, then regenerate the schedule so that its automatic dimensions are rebuilt using those updated settings.
In Door and Window Schedules, the automatic dimensions refer to the elevation dimensions that Archicad generates in the preview cells.
These dimensions always inherit the active Dimension Tool defaults at the moment they are created. Regenerating the schedule ensures that all preview dimensions reflect the revised settings consistently.
Step 1: Switch to a model view
Leave the Schedule View and navigate to a 2D Viewpoint (like the Floor Plan or a Section).
Step 2: Set New Dimension Defaults
Deselect all elements (press Esc). Activate the Dimension Tool from the Toolbox and open its settings dialog (Ctrl/Cmd + T). Adjust the pens, text size, marker style, and other options until they match your desired schedule appearance, then click OK.
Step 3: Regenerate the Automatic Dimensions
Return to your Door or Window Schedule and open its Format panel (usually on the left). Select one of the window cells and disable “Add Automatic Dimensions” so the dimensions disappear. Then enable “Add Automatic Dimensions” again, so the schedule recreates them using the updated Dimension Tool defaults.
Why this works: When you toggle automatic dimensions off and on, Archicad rebuilds those annotations from scratch using the current Dimension Tool defaults, instead of the older settings used when the schedule was first generated.
Note: This workflow only applies to automatic dimensions. Manual dimensions placed on the Annotate tab are separate elements, so they keep their own settings and do not change when you modify the tool defaults.
The result
With just a few clicks, every preview in your schedule updates to the correct pens, text styles, and markers, giving you clean, consistent graphics across all door and window elevations—without repetitive manual editing.
Give it a try and let us know how it works for you! Here’s the link to the original forum discussion where you can leave kudos to @AllanP and @Laszlo Nagy for this solution.
Do you have a clever solution or a favorite tip for everyday challenges? Share it with the community and it might be published in the Insights blog 😎
