Work Environments in ArchiCAD – part 1
Thought about your ArchiCAD Work Environment recently?
This week I’m trying something different (no real surprise, right?). In honor of setting up my new home office, I’m going to talk about my ArchiCAD Work Environment. I’m not going to cover everything about it, but let’s see what I can share under eight minutes. Here’s one spoiler:
If your info box is stretched horizontally across the top of the screen like ArchiCAD has it right out of the box… guess what? You’re wrong. And you need to stop using it that way. I’m open to hearing arguments, but I’ll be impressed if I hear a good one.
Bonus Explainer 1:
Why is my info box, navigator, and toolbox on the left of the screen instead of the right? Most of us are used to reading from left to right. So I find that when I look at a screen, my eyes tend to drift to the left. Upper left in fact. And guess what’s there on my screen? The info box. Can’t spell BIM without info.
Bonus Explainer 2:
How do you get the info box to be vertical and rectangular instead of horizontal, skinny, and stupid? Grab a corner with the mouse and reshape it. Just like I did with the toolbox in the video (and forgot to do with the info box).
Bonus Explainer 3:
Remember, once you’ve rearranged your palettes, update and save your Work Environment. Probably should do a video on how to do that…
Your Turn (updated about 2 hrs after I posted)
I just got an e-mail which has me thinking. What does your ArchiCAD work environment look like? If you’re will to share on the blog, send me a screen shot and a few words about why what you do makes sense. I’ll post the best work environments in a week or two. Thanks and start sending me those screen captures!
Read Work Environments Part 2A now!
joaomourao
Hi Jared!
Well, for me this is the way to go… It does not differ that much from my general work environment. The one thing I struggle sometimes is that I feel a bit of empty space when not editing in the info box, don’t you Jared? So what I did was a smaller version of your navigator + info box… I use AC with MACs and PCs and the autohide palletes for PCs is a good thing! By the way, don’t you also struggle when you use the standard work environment while teaching AC for beginners? Jared, I will be waiting for part 2 & 3! 🙂
Daniel
Hi Jared,
Trying this out but can’t keep to get my navigator pallette to ‘dock’ on the left hand side. Any suggestions? I generally find the docking of pallettes a pretty frustrating process.
Cheers
Jared Banks
@ Daniel. Agreed. The docking can be a little screwy. Are you on PC or Mac? AC 15? I sadly don’t have many suggestions. I’ve been fooling around with rearranging palettes from different starting points and the navigator is acting normal. I have seen a behavior in the past where a palette won’t dock to the screen, but only to another palette (or the reverse). Or the palette is trying to dock weirdly to another adjacent one. Maybe try moving everything away and bring the palettes over one by one?
@Joao. I based the size of the inbox box on being able to see all the options for doors & windows. I find I’m looking at the info box so much, that it never feels like empty space. As for teaching beginners, I give them my work environment. I tell them a) it’s good and b) having everything where i expect it will make me a more effective teacher. It makes the basic archicad tutorials a little harder for them, but those aren’t that great anyways. I’d love to see your work environment and share it in the follow-up post. Thanks!
Vistasp Mehta
Nice video, Jared. I’ve set up my W.E. with a single-column info-box on the left and the navigator+quick options on the right. I’ll try your system and see if it saves me any real-estate. Thanks for the idea.
Jared Banks
@Vistasp. Thanks. Sounds like a lot of people go that route as well. Are you on a PC? The hideable menus make that work really well on PCs.
s2art
I like your take on this, Jared – “I do it my way and everyone else is wrong!” 😉
I have a single width info box, on the left, with Navigator directly under it, leaving maximum real estate for the working window. A decent size screen helps too. It irks me when colleagues don’t have their working area maximised.
Remember you can rearrange your info box within your Work Environment to have the most commonly used parameters at the top.
Also with Magic Mouse you can easily scroll sideways in the Navigator list with the swipe of a finger to see long view names etc. so Info box / Navigator width can be minimal.
Jared Banks
@S2art. I’ve learned from almost two years of blogging that it’s best to be grandiose with my post titles, opinions, and statements! The one column info box has come up a lot, and I think it’s a valid solution. Still like my way though! I should rearrange the info box to keep the most common ones up top. I’ve done that a little, but should really spend the time to do it more. Maybe in another video? 🙂 So far I’ve gotten two other people to send me screen captures; I’m looking forward to doing the follow up post that just shares some other screens. Hopefully I’ll get a few more.
And you’re saying I need to buy a magic mouse? When I left SALA and I was building my new set up, I really wanted to buy a new mouse, but settled for using an old Logitech mouse that I had sitting around the house. But maybe it’ll get a gin and tonic spilled on it one of these late nights!
Daniel
Thanks for the reply Jared, I’m on PC. Managed to sort it, have no clue why it decided to work though!
Jared Banks
You know, sometimes ArchiCAD is just mysterious like that. I find it often works better when I am near. At least many of my old coworker’s problems disappeared when I approached their computers! 🙂
Vistasp Mehta
Yes, Jared, I’m on a PC. There was a time when I envied you Mac-heads… Now I realise that, as in most cases, you win some & you lose some. 🙂
s2art
Jared, re the Magic Mouse, it has some nice features but annoys me at times too. It seems my one is particularly quirky, but at least others in my office stay away from my computer ‘cos they can’t work it out.
Jared Banks
Nothing like fancy toys keeping others away!
Achille Pavlidis
Hi Jared, nice video!
I had my WE pretty much organized like yours, but I liked your suggestion about the 2 column info box, so I changed it. I use two screens so its easy. I’m also a big fan of “Favorites” so I keep that pallete visible too.
Cheers
Jared Banks
Favorites are a must. I have mine set to a hotkey and just turn in on and off all the time to conserve space.
Roderick Anderson
Jared, I think your idea of rearranging this is great, and I sort of wonder why I had not thought of this before !!!
I’m going to try out your arrangement, and may come up with a couple of variations based on screen sizes. I work on an 17″ MacBook pro and also on a 27″ iMac, so I am sure things will get adjusted based on the sheer difference on the number of pixels available in each case.
Jared Banks
@Roderick, you will definitely want a work environment for each screen size. At SALA for the longest time I was maintaining a palette layout for a 13″ macbook, a 15″ macbook pro, and a 21″ external monitor. And actually two 15″ versions since the later macbook pros had a better screen resolution and thus slightly more real estate to work with. I’m glad to not need to track all that anymore! 🙂
StressCo
Here’s my tip to save 2mm of screen width. Instead of using the Palettes> “toolbox” to display your tools, try using Toolbars> “Toolbox Tools” (both are accessed from the “window” menu in the menubar). You’ll have to drag a corner to adjust the orientation up/down the screen. Works on a Mac… not sure on windows. Mentioned here: http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=93388&highlight
Jared Banks
nice!
Chad Conrad
Jared-
Great information. I too have adjusted my WE in many ways but not having the info box and navigator stretched in that way. I will look into this and see how it will benefit my workflow. I too have a few machines to manage with different screen sizes so I can empathize with those of you who have to deal with this also. Keep up the great work!
AP
Hello. I am using the educational Archicad 17 on macbook and I have some issues. All my toolbars are separated and to close the whole program i have to click on all X to close. Is there any way to link all the toolbars together? please help
Jared Banks
That does not seem normal! Two suggestions. One would be to resent your work environment. Go to options/work environment/work environment, then choose the appropriate WE and hit apply schemes of profile. If that doesn’t work, it sounds like your installation of ArchiCAD 17 has issues. Here’s the steps to repair it: http://blog.graphisoftus.com/archicad-user/repairing-an-archicad-installation-downloading-old-versions-of-archicad-and-mistakes-i-made-when-i-was-young
GLBOOBALAN
HOW MY CUSTOM WORKING ENVIRONMENT LOCKED FOR OTHER PERSON ACCESSING TO CHANGE ?
Jared Banks
Unfortunately I don’t have an answer for you. But this thread on the ARCHICAD-talk forum might help.
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