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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!

 

Comments

  • March 19, 2012
    reply

    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! 🙂

  • March 19, 2012
    reply

    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

  • March 20, 2012
    reply

    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.

  • March 20, 2012
    reply

    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.

  • March 20, 2012
    reply

    Daniel

    Thanks for the reply Jared, I’m on PC. Managed to sort it, have no clue why it decided to work though!

  • March 21, 2012
    reply

    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. 🙂

  • March 21, 2012
    reply

    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.

  • March 22, 2012
    reply

    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

  • March 24, 2012
    reply

    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.

  • March 28, 2012
    reply

    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

  • March 30, 2012
    reply

    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!

  • November 30, 2013
    reply

    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

  • November 25, 2015
    reply

    GLBOOBALAN

    HOW MY CUSTOM WORKING ENVIRONMENT LOCKED FOR OTHER PERSON ACCESSING TO CHANGE ?

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