A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on groups in ArchiCAD. It has quickly  become one of my most popular. If you haven’t read that post, you might want to start here. Well I’ve been thinking more about groups since then. And Link Ellis (one of my ArchiCAD heroes) offered some great additions to the list in this LinkedIn post. Below is a summary of Link’s thoughts (4. through 11.) and some more of my own:

4. (cont’d). Note, when groups are ungrouped while they’re suspended, they will all become individual elements, regardless of whether they were in nested groups.

7. (cont’d). Similarly you can group two elements then delete one, leaving just one single grouped element. Such an element cannot be edited without suspending groups. This could be as bad as it is good.

8. Grouped elements can be changed even with groups enabled, by way of parameter transfer (syringe).

9. Groups are represented by eight colors on the following order: olive, dark blue, burgundy, green, blue, dark red, wine, plum. Quite the smorgasbord and after that they will repeat! 😉

10. Grouping of 3D elements can only occur in plan or 3D. Grouping of 2D elements with other 2D elements can occur in any view or layout (including master layouts).

11. The following cannot be grouped: all dimension tools, all viewpoint tools (including cameras), zones, labels, doors, windows (including corner windows).

12. Drag/rotate/multiple/mirror/etc. a copy of a group with groups enabled, the copy stays a group. Drag/rotate/multiple/mirror/etc. a copy of a group with groups suspended, the copy is no longer grouped.

13. Copy a group from one file to another (or within a file using cmd+c/cmd+v) and it remains a group regardless of whether groups are suspended/enabled in either file.

14. Inserting a new node to a wall, beam, or line creates two elements. If the original element is part of a group, the new element is also part of the group. Use the split command to cut elements into pieces and everything also remains in the group.

15. Unifying 2 (or more) polylines/lines: If the last element selected is part of a group, the new unified element will remain in the group (and also take on any other properties of that element–layer, color, etc.). If the last element selected is not part of an existing group, the new unified element will not be part of a group. This is actually more a function of unify than of groups. The final element to be selected is the element that all the others become a part of.

16. Linework/Fill Consolidation: This is a bit of a mystery to me. If all the linework or fills are part of one group, then the consolidated element will be part of that group. If there’s a mixture of grouped and non-grouped elements, sometimes the final object is part of the group and sometimes it’s not. And if there are elements from multiple groups, it varies on which group the final element is part of. I have yet to figure out the pattern. Maybe someone else can.

17. Autogroup: If the Autogroup command is on, chained polygonal and rectangular elements (such as PolyWalls, PolyRoofs, etc.) will automatically be created as a group. Components of exploded elements will also be grouped. (#17 is straight from the ArchiCAD help menu and worthy of being on this list).