• LibraryMigration

Library Migration

This article describes different Library Migration strategies, highlighting pros and cons of each method. The right strategy for you depends on several factors, like how much are you into a project, what type of work you need to do on the project and what types of elements you need to use.

General Recommendations

Regardless of which route you take, we do recommend to:

• Back up files in Archive (PLA) format before moving on to a new version.

• Avoid using objects without GUIDs. These would be objects from ArchiCAD 7.0 or earlier. Check out how to Update library parts with missing GUID

• Avoid loading the "ArchiCAD Library" of different ArchiCAD versions at the same time. From versions 8 and above this does not cause a technical problem, but it does create duplicate parts (image and text files) and makes managing libraries cumbersome.

1. Creating a "project specific" migration library

This workflow is recommended if many library parts are already in place, but a lot more needs to be added, and you prefer to use the most current library to add new objects.

This method is probably best in most cases

You create your "Project Specific Migration Library" that contains all the library parts that you have used so far in the project. This is to ensure that already placed elements will stay as as they are.

Steps:

In the ArchiCAD version you are migrating from:

• load the plan in the ArchiCAD version where you are migrating from
• save an archive plan (pla)
• open the archive (pla) plan with extract to folder option
• This folder will be your "Project Specific Migration Library"
• Optionally, you can pack up this folder in PLA format by opening a new, empty file, loading a library, and saving a PLA with "include all loaded objects" option.

In the ArchiCAD version you are migrating to:

• Load your new "project specific migration library" and the current ArchiCAD library.
  

• Check the Library Report: You will probably have duplicates of material textures (.jpg and .tif files) and List Templates (.txt files). This is because unlike GDL object (.gsm) files, text and image files do not have unique identifiers, and they are identified by name only. If two images have the same name, then they are listed duplicates in Library manager.
• Delete unnecessary Texture, Background Image and List Template files. In most cases you will probably need to keep the most recent set and delete the old ones.

2. Using the Migration Libraries

This workflow is recommended if you started your project in ArchiCAD 10 or later

Library Subsets (or Migration Libraries, as they are currently called) ensure that library parts placed in earlier ArchiCAD versions are preserved when you move to the next version and start using the new library. For example, when you migrate an ArchiCAD 10 project in ArchiCAD 11, then you would load the "ArchiCAD 11 Library" along with the "ArchiCAD 10 Library Subset". Migration Libraries are cumulative - so if you move across different versions of ArchiCAD, you can use more than one Migration Library. Say, you started your project in ArchiCAD 10, but you moved across version 11, 12 and 13, you can load the ArchiCAD 13 Library, and along with it the ArchiCAD 10, 11 and 12 Migration Libraries.

3. Use only the old library

Even old library parts are compatible with the most current ArchiCAD version, therefore you can migrate a project and keep the old library as it is. This workflow is recommended if a project has been completed in an earlier version of ArchiCAD, and only minor adjustments are required. In this case we recommend not to load the current ArchiCAD Library at all.

4. Manually replacing library items

If you migrate a project in its early phase with relatively few objects placed, you might consider to manually replace objects with the most current version. This way you can get rid of the old library and you can take full advantage of the new library.

Steps:

Update the elements one by one using the pick up and inject parameter command. For more details please read the following chapter in the ArchiCAD help: -Virtual Building > Parametric Objects > Parameter Transfer Between Objects

When is this useful: Due it needs a lots of manual work it worth only for plans with a low number of used library items.

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