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Thread: Tool Palettes & Content Browser

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    Default Tool Palettes & Content Browser

    I am using ADT 2005. I have used the tool palettes very little and would like to start using more of this power. I would also like to share these items over network.

    I am looking to start out with some basic items. I would like to create a file for all of our standard wall types. I see that there are many wall styles included in the styles directory and I plan to take the drawing provided for the wall types and make a copy and modify some of them to meet our company standards. I will also do this for windows and doors next eventually.

    I am getting confused with file locations for tool palettes and catalogs in the content browser. If sharing over a network is there any reason that the tool palette location listed in the Options dialog box should be anything but on your local computer? My thoughts are that the tool palettes are just a link to all other items and that this could stay on local computer. Is this correct thinking?

    Do most people copy items located in "Cocuments and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\ADT 2005\enu" to the server? If I move the above directory will the current tool palettes work to this new path or will the new path screw things up. I don't plan to make changes to the standard content catalogs but only to add our own items.

    I know I will have more, but this is enough for now. Any other info on this items or links to other relevant topics are appreciated.

    Shawn

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    Super Moderator dkoch's Avatar
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    Default Re: Tool Palettes & Content Browser

    How you set this up depends upon how tightly you want to control your user's workspaces and whether you can trust the users to update the tool palettes when changes are made. The ease of doing certain things also depends upon the version of ADT you are using. Since this is not posted to the 2005 or 2006 groups, I will assume you are using 2004 until informed otherwise.

    You can leave the user's tool palettes location on the local computer and set up your style source files and tool catalog in a network location. You users then i-drop the palettes they want into their local workspace, and can refresh them when needed. Refreshing can be automatic, but if you have a number of palettes and tools, having them automatically refresh every time you start ADT can be rather tedious. The downside of not automatically refreshing the palettes is that unless a given user is dilligently updates the palettes on a regular basis or at least every time you send out an APB e-mail notifying everyone of a change, old tools and palettes can remain. Note also that the tools in the catalogs maintain a path to the source file - move that after making the tool and you break the ability for the tool to import the style into a drawing that does not have it. The 2004 version lacks the ability to "publish" catalogs that the later versions have, which allows you to create a local catalog on your computer, then publish it to a network location and have all of the source files copied as well and having the paths set to the location of the copy.

    For more central control, you can add a network-pathed tool palette location where office-standard palettes are kept. You would not have to create a catalog for these palettes, although you may want to back them up to a catalog for safekeeping. Make this network folder read-only to all but those authorized to update the office standards. Keep a local tool palette location so users can create their own palettes for user- or project-specific tools or on-the-fly assemblies of tools for a given task on a given day. There are issues with this approach as well. You might want to search the Autodesk Architectural Desktop Discussion Groups for posts by Reid Addis on tool palettes, as he has posted frequently on the techniques he has developed to implement this at his office.

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