libraries

[Anonymous]

if I have loaded on AC9 and AC 10 libraries, could I delete the AC 8 library? to libraries of later versions have all the components of the previos versions+ upgrades? what will the consequences of unloading AC 8 library be?

[Anonymous]

Do you mean to (a) unload them from the project(s) or (b) delete them from the hard drive?

a) It depends. I have found that most projects using only the SE9 library can dump it and load only the AC10 library. A small number of parts may come up missing, but I have found so far that I prefer to reassign them to AC10 parts than to stick to the old library. An alternative is to load a subset of the SE library (I believe there is one available somewhere) along with the AC10 library. Dealing with earlier libraries is something I haven't had to do yet, but is likely to be trickier. In many (most?) cases it won't be worth the trouble and it is probably best just to stick with the older ones.

b) No, keep the old ones around just in case.

[David Larrew]

You should try to streamline your current working ArchiCAD Libraries as much as possible. In most cases objects from older libraries are included in some shape or form in the latest libraries.

I would suggest "unloading" the older libraries in the project file(s) to see if you have any loading problems with currently placed objects. If you don't, work without the older libraries. If you do, load them back. If you don't need the older libraries then don't load them.

It is a good idea to keep a "backup" copy of the older libraries just in case you have to access an incorrectly archived older project file. We have "backup" copies of all our past libraries (AC6.0 - present) but we only use the most recent AC and office standard libraries for our current projects.

[Chris Phillips]

David wrote:

I would suggest "unloading" the older libraries in the project file(s) to see if you have any loading problems with currently placed objects. If you don't, work without the older libraries. If you do, load them back. If you don't need the older libraries then don't load them.

Please be careful with this one! We substituted AC10 steel for AC9 with the result that the steel moved by the depth of the member, and inserted as 2d on some details, it disappeared entirely!

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the warning Chris. Fortunately we haven't used any of the steel parts recently.

Another useful technique is to make an archive of the older file and then extract the library to make a project library of any needed older parts. There will still be the issue of culling the duplicates, but since the folder structure is maintained this is pretty easy.