Storing and Transferring Layout Tabs
It's quite useful to put a set of standard layouts on the office network as a .dwt drawing. Layout tabs, blocks, dimstyles and other drawing entities can be transferred between drawings using the Design Center. A quicker way however is to update the Template settings in Options, then access the layout tab template .dwt file with the context menu that appears when your Rt-click an exisiting layout tab. This requires some setup at each workstation, but makes access to the standard layouts quite efficient.
Warning!!
Whether you are transferring layous via the Design Center or using Template files, it is important that no groups or group layers exist in the template drawing. Dragging in content from a .dwg or .dwt which has group information will cause HSB to create new groups in your drawing.
Overview
- Create a LayoutTemplate.dwt drawing. It should have layout tabs set up with appropriate viewports and TSLs, and be purged of all group information.
- Save the .dwt to a network folder, usually ...<HsbCompany>/Templates
- Set the default template folder location in AutoCAD Options.
- Access layouts stored in the template by Rt-clicking an existing layout tab and selecting "From Template".
In AutoCAD options, go to the first tab, "Files". Here you can set the default template file location, and the .dwt used for the QNEW command if you like. For purposes of this procedure we only need to set the default template location to the folder where your "LayoutTabsTemplate.dwt" is stored. Please note that I am using a local file in the screenshot above, in a typical office this would be a network location.
Once you've made the settings in options, you can Rt-click any existing layout in an open drawing to access the stored layouts.
The dialog box that appears defaults to the folder you set in Options.
After you select a .dwt file, a small dialog appears showing all the layout tabs in that drawing. You can choose to insert one or several.
