• TechNotes
• Managing Favorites

TechTip of the Month Contest Winner of January 2005 - Woodster's tip on managing Favorites in ArchiCAD!

- "Can i split the favorites palette in small palettes? Can this be done? - Oreopoulos"
- "I have clients create a Favorites directory; on your own machine if you work alone, on a server if you work with others in an office. - Woodster"

A useful tip to make life easier for users of many Favorites:

1. Create a new folder (directory) for your favorites, preferably beside your ArchiCAD Library folder. If you work using TeamWork, the folder should best be created on the server, beside the object library.

2. Now open ArchiCAD, and make the Favorites palette appear if it already isn't open. (Window>Palette Display>Show Favorites (marked with a friendly star in the menu)).

3. Delete all Favorites, one by one - select the first Favorite, then click on the small arrow to open a menu and choose 'Delete'. This will take a few seconds to complete (see screenshot below):

1. Be sure to delete all Favorites but one - without a single Favorite, ArchiCAD will not allow you to save the Favorite listing as a new Favorites file.
2. Once there is but one Favorite left, click on the small arrow to save the current listing and name it i.e. 'start'. You should not delete this listing later, so choose a name you'll recognize.

3. Now adjust each item's setting as desired and save each setting as a new Favorite (click on the small arrow, and either use 'Save Current Default Settings...' or 'Save Last Selection's...' (in the latter case, select the item with the desired settings prior to saving).

4. Once the listing is populated with Favorites, click on the small arrow and choose 'Save Favorites...' - this will open up a rather common save dialog box.

5. Be sure to save your Favorites' listing into your dedicated folder with an obvious name (something like 'residential walls' or 'office openings' for instance) so that it'll be easy to find later.
6. Repeat with any kind of objects or items in any combination as desired.

7. Once working on a new project, these Favorites can simply be re-used just by loading the Favorites' listing from the dialog. For this, click on the small black arrow, choose 'Load Favorites...', then locate and select the desired Favorites listing file.

8. Choose 'Replace' or 'Merge' in the dialog when asked whether to merge the new Favorites to the already loaded or to replace the currently open Favorites listing.

Hint:
- In certain cases it might be useful to save project-specific Favorites' listings, just be sure to name them adequately (or use a folder structure within your Favorites folder).
- Under 'Favorites Preferences' you can choose which object parameters should not be applied with the Favorites.

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