Repair Archicad Installation or Preferences - Troubleshooting Guide

[Greg Kmethy]

REPAIR Archicad

If Archicad is already installed on your computer and you run the Archicad installer, an option is given to Repair the software.

This process looks through the Archicad folder and replaces the installed components with a fresh copy from the installer. Basically, it re-installs Archicad back to initial factory settings. Because of this, you will need to re-install the latest Update to Archicad after the repair process has completed. Launch Archicad; go to the Help menu; and choose "Check for Updates". If an update is available please download it; quit Archicad; and run the installer for the Update.

Backup and Repair

When prompted, choose "Backup and Repair" in order to backup certain files that may or may not be important to you.

If you select this option, a “backup” folder will be created in your Archicad xx folder. The name of the backup folder will contain the Archicad version and the date of creation; and will include:

• your previous Add-on settings;
• your previous Archicad xx Library;
• your previous default Work Environment schemes (Defaults folder)

After the repair process is complete, you can either delete these preferred files or restore any of them by copying them back into your repaired Archicad environment:

• copy your Add-On settings back to the respective sub-folders of your ‘Archicad xx/Add-Ons’ folder;
• replace the library in the ‘Archicad xx/Archicad Library xx’ folder;
• replace your ‘Defaults’ folder in the ‘Archicad xx’ folder (thereby including your current Work Environment, Translator and Template data).

Project files you saved into the Archicad xx folder will not be deleted or overwritten by the repair process. However, as a best practice, do not store project files anywhere inside your Applications or Program Files directories.

Preferences Cleaning

Aside from items in the Archicad folder, the other major set of data that gets installed and stored on your system are 'Preference' files, 'Work Environment' files and 'Temporary' files in your User folder to aid in operation of the software. In rare cases these files can become corrupt, preventing Archicad from starting or possibly causing crashes. In such cases, as a troubleshooting step, try deleting these files. See Preferences Cleaning.