How do I keep groups within a group?

[Anonymous]

Is there a switch I am missing to allow ArchiCAD to keep subgroups within groups? Since AC9, whenever I group multiple groups (say to select and move them all at once) then ungroup the overall group all of the subgroups are ungrouped as well leaving one mess of ungrouped objects. What am I doing wrong here?

[Anonymous]

Make sure that the group function is active (not suspended) when you ungroup. This behavior is similar to copy/paste which retains group identity only when the group function is on.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Matthew. I should have made that connection.

[vfrontiers]

OMG! 20 years at this and I still know nothing!

Thanks Matthew!

[JaredBanks]

Matthew Lohden,

where can we build a statue of you to proclaim our thanks? I can't believe I never even accidentally discovered this. I even just told a new user at my firm that this couldn't be done! If I could only remember who...

And for clarification, groups need to be enabled when you make the super group as well. Otherwise the other groups will be lost. Seems obvious now, but I figure it's worth adding to this great tip.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I've previously expressed a wish that, when copying grouped objects, Archicad would display a message that says:

"You are about to copy a group, but grouping is suspended. Are you sure you really want to do this?"

Keith
Archicad ver 12 on Mac OSX 10.4.8

[Anonymous]

Keith, it sounds like Microsoft: "Are you sure you want to do this?" No, thanks! 😉

[Laura Yanoviak]

A useful tip is to keep grouping ACTIVE at all times -- suspending groups should be considered a temporary setting, and one should get in the habit of enabling groups once the need for suspended groups is no longer necessary.

[JaredBanks]

Good point. What's your take with new users and always having groups enabled? I feel like I too often have new users accidentally deleting an entire group when they only mean to delete one thing (say a wall) in a group. Often because they are zoomed in and can't see the rest of the group or because other pieces of the group don't show in the particular view/elevation/section. And of course being new at the program they tend not to notice this until it's too late to undo. If groups are always suspended unless they're needed, this would (i imagine) help minimize this issue.

Thoughts?

[Karl Ottenstein]

JaredBanks wrote:
Good point. What's your take with new users and always having groups enabled? I feel like I too often have new users accidentally deleting an entire group when they only mean to delete one thing (say a wall) in a group. Often because they are zoomed in and can't see the rest of the group or because other pieces of the group don't show in the particular view/elevation/section.

Whether deleting or editing, IMHO one should always look at the Info Box to see how many elements are selected. This avoids the problem you mention.

I agree with Laura ... and this is also why I recommend that users learn the shortcut alt/opt-G [at least that's mine] for toggling the suspend group status. (Ctrl/cmd-G for group, ctrl/cmd-shift-G for ungroup is handy too.)

Then, it is easy to select a group, then quickly suspend groups (alt-g) so that the group can be edited, particularly using the pet palette for using polygon edits on a group of walls, or perhaps for marquee stretching, and then enable groups again (alt-g).

Cheers,
Karl