opening templates

[Anonymous]

If I save a fiel as a template format it is saved in the 'defaults' folder. But is not visible when 'open template' is selected under 'open new file'.

The displayed template seems to be in a folder called 'templates' in the 'graphisoft' folder which I cannot find.

What gives please?

[Anonymous]

Bruce,
The default Archicad 10 template.tpl is in the Defaults folder.
There is a folder called ArchiCAD Templates where you
can put your template file or you can put it in the AC 10
folder at the top level.
Peter Devlin

[Anonymous]

You can also store your template anywhere you would like (server) and browse to it once on each computer. After this Archicad will remember its location and it will be available in the drop down menu.

[Rod Jurich]

HANIEL wrote:
If I save a fiel as a template format/....... which I cannot find.

Bruce, Peter and Mike are correct.

Did you save your template with the EXT.tpl?

Because when you browse for a template to use to create
a new file it will not show unless the ext is correct.

See my attached. A lot there but you should find everything.

[__archiben]

1. archicad will show any file name exceeding a miserly number of characters as greyed out and therefore not available.

2. File>New>chooseTemplate, is different from...

3. File>Open>yourTemplateFile

if you are doing the former, you can do one of two things:
- click the drop-down list of template.tpl files to show all of the recently used templates.
- click the drop-down list and 'Browse' to navigate to where you saved your template.tpl file.

in the second option, the default location archicad looks is the default template folder. this can be set in your work environment>company standards scheme.

be warned: regardless of which method, archicad will always show as the default template the file called "Archicad 10 Template.tpl" and saved in ./Applications/Graphisoft/ArchiCAD 10/Defaults/ArchiCAD/

if you are attempting 3 - File>Open>yourTemplateFile - you need to tell archicad that it is a template.tpl file you want to open by switching the 'Enable: All Files, etc' to "ArchiCAD Project Template" specifically.

using File>New launches a new 'Untitled.pln' document based on your template settings for you to work on and save as a new project file.

using File>Open>ArchiCAD Project Template means that you are opening the template.tpl file in order to edit it for future use, not for a new project.

HTH
~/archiben

[Thomas Holm]

~/archiben wrote:
... be warned: regardless of which method, archicad will always show as the default template the file called "Archicad 10 Template.tpl" and saved in ./Applications/Graphisoft/ArchiCAD 10/Defaults/ArchiCAD/...

I found this old thread when I searched for a way to get Archicad to always show my customized template file as the default (at the top of the tempate list) when choose File>New. Too many times I and others at the office have not stopped to think and just pressed OK when the dialog appears. It loads the "Archicad 11 Template.tpl" and tries to find the wrong libraries etc etc, and then the library loading error dialog. And you can't stop this process until it's finished.

I've tried to fix this. I found that there are several places where the default default can hide in MacOSX, like

a) ~/Applications/Graphisoft/ArchiCAD 11/Defaults/ArchiCAD/ (this is where it's installed from the beginning) or

b) ~/Library/Preferences/Graphisoft/ArchiCAD 11.0.0 INT v1/x86/ (i think a corresponding folder was the default location in the betas) or

c) ~/Library/Application Support/Graphisoft/ArchiCAD Templates/

It seems the last one (option c above) was the culprit. After a number of failures, I found that if I name the templates in this folder so they sort backwards, that is if I name my wanted default so it comes last when I sort the folder alphabetically in the Finder, it will work. It will top the list when I do File>New>chooseTemplate.

Success, you might think. OK. partly. But in fact this shows another a problem, related to my wish of a Multiple-install-aware-installer http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=20317

Because the ~/Library/Application Support/Graphisoft/ folder is the only one of the three options above that is not at all version-aware. (Option a at least distinguishes between major versions). And this of course means problems if you have several versions installed. In my case, I've got Archicad 7, 8.1, 9, 10INT, 10SWE, 11INT and 11SWE installed on the same machine. At least the five latter use the same Application Support folder. You can imagine what happens if one version overwrites another's default

But the problem at hand at least partly solved!

[Link]

My understanding of ArchiCAD 11's management of templates is this:

Upon installation AC11 will install the ArchiCAD 11 Template.tpl in the Defaults\ArchiCAD folder. Then upon starting for the first time it will copy that template into the ArchiCAD Templates folder. This is the default Template Folder location as set in the Special Folders area of the Work Environment.

Later, if we choose a different location for the Template Folder in Work Environment, then the next time we start AC11 it will copy the ArchiCAD 11 Template.tpl from the originally installed Defaults\ArchiCAD folder into your chosen Template Folder, where it will join any other templates you may have put in there.

Next time when we Create a New Project using a template, AC will offer us a list of templates that will be divided in up to two sections, (depending on what you've done prior and your chosen Template Folder). Se the image. The first section lists the templates stored in your chosen Template Folder, and the second section lists the most recent templates you've accessed. (You can clear these by deleting your Library (Mac) or Application Data (PC), but backup first for safety).

Keep in mind that if you haven't chosen a different Template Folder in your Work Environment, then it will use the default location - the ArchiCAD Templates folder where the original installed template was copied to after installation.

No matter what happens AC11 will always keep the original ArchiCAD 11 Template.tpl in the Defaults folder. And when you start ArchiCAD, it will always copy it to the Template Folder as set in the Work Environment whether you've changed it or not. This is AC's way of protecting the ArchiCAD 11 Template.tpl so that you always have access to it.

In previous versions AC would also copy the templates into your Library (Mac) or Application Data (PC) folder, although I don't think it does this anymore. At least not on a PC.

Cheers,
Link.

[Thomas Holm]

Link wrote:
Next time when we Create a New Project using a template, AC will offer us a list of templates that will be divided in up to two sections, (depending on what you've done prior and your chosen Template Folder). Se the image. The first section lists the templates stored in your chosen Template Folder, and the second section lists the most recent templates you've accessed.

Thanks Link!
It seems this works a little bit differently on the Mac. I get the sections you mention only when I start Archicad and my chosen Template folder does not contain the recently used templates or the ones that are in the Default folder.
If their contents are identical, or if I select File>New after having worked in another file, my drop-down menu only shows what's in the chosen Templates folder.

Still, the backwards-sorting trick works to get me my wanted default at the top of the list.

[Link]

Thomas wrote:
It seems this works a little bit differently on the Mac. I get the sections you mention only when I start Archicad and my chosen Template folder does not contain the recently used templates or the ones that are in the Default folder.

Yes, of course a recently used template will only appear in the appropriate place if you have recently used a template.

Cheers,
Link.