LIBRARY | DELETING DUPLICATE AND UNUSED OBJECTS

[Mjules]

Is there a quick way to delete both duplicate and unused objects in ArchiCAD from here: 

That could help save time and money.

[Barry Kelly]

You can't remove individual objects from a loaded library.

If you load a single library on its own it will be fine.

Only when you load extra libraries that have duplicate parts will you get this issue.

So, if you were able to delete individual objects and they were deleted from the library, what would happen to someone that wants to then load that library on its own - there would be missing parts.

You have to remove the entire conflicting library.

When loading multiple libraries, you need to ensure they do not contain duplicates, so you do not have this issue.

Barry.

[Mjules]

I've never used the full ArchiCAD library because it consumes too much space on disks. I used to customize them depending on the project type, and create my own that I have to share together with the project, if needed. I only keep objects used for every project to avoid increasing files' size. I also do it very easily on other BIM software. 

[Barry Kelly]

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@Mjules wrote:

I've never used the full ArchiCAD library because of the default one which consumes too much space on disks. I used to customize them depending on the project type, and create my own that I have to share together with the project, if needed. I only keep objects used for every project to avoid increasing files' size. I also do it very easily on other BIM software. 

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The full library resides in the Archicad program folder.

It is not a part of each job so it will not take up extra space for each job you have.

It is there on your disc whether you use it or not - so you may as well use it.

Rather than keep duplicating it (or parts of it) for every job you do.

If you are creating a custom library that is just certain objects from the default library for each job, I don't understand that.

Just load the default library in every job, you will only have the one library, and not multiple copies of it for each job.

Barry.

[Mjules]

Here's an example when the default library is not loaded into the project:

The file size becomes smaller: 

When the default library is loaded:

The file size increases:

If I need to place only one object directly from the default library, do I still need to keep all of the default library loaded into the project, or can I extract that object and then add it into the project library folder so that I can remove the default library avoiding duplicates?

[Barry Kelly · Accepted solution]

A very slight increase in the file size.

I assume there is some increase as it needs to keep track of what is loaded in the file database.

But the full 6.8GB of library is not added to the file.

You seem to be loading the entire Archicad 28 tech preview program folder, no need to do that.

If you extract individual objects, that means you need to place them in a separate library which will take up space on your hard drive, or you add them to the Embedded Library and they will increase the actual file size by the size of those added objects.

And then you are limited to what objects you can use in your project because you do not have the full library.

I would say it is easier and better to load the entire libraries required, rather than extracting them and finding individual objects to load.

Barry.

[Erik Bjornhage · Accepted solution]

I would also like to add that the default library is already on your hard drive (and taking up about 1 GB of space).

By extracting individual objects and creating project specific libraries you are doing exactly the opposite. You are intentionally creating duplicates of library objects when it is not necessary - thereby making your project files larger (if you are embedding objects) and taking up more space on your disk than necessary (by creating library folders with duplicate objects).

Using the default library will help you in the following ways:

• Only one place to find objects
• Only one place to troubleshoot
• Takes up the the least space on your drive
• If you need to share/archive the project, just save it as a PLA