Volume V issue 15 August 31, 2007
In This Issue
Exporting Tool Palettes...
Using a Layout Name as a Field
Editing the APJ File
Exporting Tool Palettes

If you're like me, you quickly adapted to Tool Palettes and it didn't take long for you to start creating and using your own custom Tool Palettes.
 
But, then someone else in your office wanted to use those sweet tool palettes, right?
 
Help says just go to the Tool Palette, right click on the bar, and select 'Customize'.  Then select the tool palette you want to export, right click and select 'Export'.
 
BUT this doesn't work if you are using AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Mechanical or AutoCAD Electrical.  The EXPORT/IMPORT is simply not available.  (It would be nice if Help included that little tidbit of information.)
 
So, what are you supposed to do if you want to share your tool palettes with other people (or even with yourself when you go from one machine to another)?
 
 
Well, you need to use the Content Browser.  Download the tutorial below for a step-by-step guide on what to do.
 
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Using a Layout Name as a Field 
 
 
I had a customer who wanted to leverage attributes in their titleblock as much as possible by using fields.  If they could automate how the titleblocks filled in, that would be a major productivity enhancement, plus it would guarantee that their document sets would have a coherent look and feel.
 
So, they wanted the title on their titleblock to reflect the name on the layout tab.  Well, that's not a standard property.  So, what could they do?
 
Actually, it is pretty simple.  Simply define the field as a Diesel expression. 
 
 
 
Editing the APJ File
 
If you use AutoCAD Architecture/ADT/Revit, you may be using an APJ file (look for a file with *.apj file extension.
 
This file controls the data in your project (Project Name, Project Number, Street Address, etc.)
 
If you want to use the same custom properties for all your projects and link those properties to your fields, you need to edit the file.
 
Unfortunately, Autodesk hasn't provided an easy neat interface or dialog to do that.
 
The best work-around is to copy an existing apj file that has the custom properties you want and use an XML editor to add the fields and information you want and then set that as part of your template.
 
 
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