Renerabbitt

1 minute ago, katiebits said:

@Renerabbitt It is way more complicated than it needs to be. It worked just fine as it was. Why did they have to complicate it? Not happy and seems to be very confusing. I don't want Chief's project management. Years and years of working with dropbox and now it is overly complex and not smooth. Just stupid.

I hear you. The why is that PM solves 2 of their most frequent support calls, broken links and missing textures.

You can turn project management off from preferences if you like

For some of us power users we wouldn't do without Project Management, it adds the ability for some really robust automation. It also solved some age old issues. If you want to know more about that you can check out this video:

You can turn project management off from preferences if you like

9 minutes ago, katiebits said:

I'm late to the party, just upgrade my computer, use CA daily for my business, solo designer. Just downloaded X17 and I am GOBSMACKED that I can't easily use dropbox as I did before. Like not at all. Why break something that wasn't broken. I have such a good work flow, well organized file system. I access all my PDF's on job sites on my dropbox on my ipad and phone. It autosaved for me. It was great. Now I can't even open my dropbox files as I did before. I have to download each project, what an utter pain in the ass. I have upwards of 12 projects on the go at all times. I am so disappointed in this with Chief. I might be shopping for new software. Maybe its time to go back to Revit. 

Its an easy adjustment with just a small amount of information  This video should get you right back to where you were before.
Also print your pdfs to Dropbox, that part hasnt changed ...instead of using "Export" simply use print and use the chief PDF print driver and save wherever you want on your dropbox account

On 3/7/2026 at 10:36 PM, para-CAD said:

I just watched your video, Rene. It was perfect. Thank you

Thank you sir

5 hours ago, mholley said:

Thank you for responding, but no, this happened when I moved the window up. It eventually refills, but I'm wondering if the program is a bit buggy? I'm having other issues that I can't figure out--the object eyedropper doesn't work consistently, for example. 

If you are trying to use it on walls, walls derive their materials from their wall definition. There are other such hard coded definitions that conflict with this as well such as structure(A concrete porch for instance)
I would suggest sharing your plan file with wetransfer or cloud so we can take a look at the window issue

See this video, explains how easily

On 3/4/2026 at 3:16 PM, Ed_Orum said:

I ended up downloading two other plans that this plan used.   Then everything populated.

Now I know.

also this might help you:

See this video:

4 minutes ago, mholley said:

Has this happened to anyone else and why?

seems as if you may have two windows in the same spot

3 hours ago, DRAWZILLA said:

I just like the thought of knowing back up is handled without leaving my computer on all night long.

SAME!

57 minutes ago, DRAWZILLA said:

Don't use project management, problem solved. I have been using Carbonite for 20+ years and it backs up as I use the program, don't even notice.

thats not an option I want to take unfortunately. PM is saving me hours on each project and I wouldnt give that up

20-45 minutes on avg.
I recently removed my backdrops library(13gb) from my user catalog. I deleted all but 8 projects and it takes the same amount of time
Disk usage is next to nothing during a backup.
If I were to just manually save all of the files from my programdata it takes only a couple of minutes
This really takes the enjoyment out of the process. I currently have to create a backup if I want to output an updated toolbar configuration to my team. 
Next thing I will try is deleting my user library and textures directory just to reimport it again after the backup, which seems ridiculous. 

7 hours ago, JKEdmo said:

 

Thanks John for your reply.  I'll give it a try!

You can also use multiple copy with this checked:

which requires a point

3 hours ago, Britt2026 said:

Full Camera view has become very glitchy. The floorplan is fine but every time I open the camera different walls/roofs etc. keep disappearing and reappearing. Has anyone had this issues before? Is there a setting to fix this? Just in regular Standard camera view.

Post your plan please. you can use wetransfer for free to share a link

12 minutes ago, ValleyGuy said:

Floor Up and Down with this system as the layer sets don't change with the up/dn arrows

what would be a the reason for wanting to change layer sets from one floor to another?

I'll share what is built in the Pro Plan.
If you have an SPV set to Use Any Floor

Then all you would need to do is duplicate the layout page that has this view sent to it:

open your layout box of the duplicated page and then scroll to 2nd floor:

Instead of duplicating so many SPV's for each possible floor

It simplifies things a great deal

I would not use symbols. I would use the reference plan tool 
draw 3 houses on 3 separate plans
then use the xyz offsets in reference plan tool to position your houses.

On 2/23/2026 at 1:38 PM, CA_Russell said:

Mac OS 26.3

Chief Architect x17

You can add this info to your signature.
Also, 
Can you please provide your plan with the area in question bubbled

1 hour ago, glennw said:

Can any one give me some pointers,

Here you go

On 2/24/2026 at 11:00 AM, GeneDavis said:

I want to do a bumped version of a completed plan, in a new file of course, let's call it PLAN BUMPED ONE FOOT.

 

The PLAN is in project management, the project titled PLAN, and the project contains the .plan and .layout files.

 

I thought the method was to use EXPORT and export the PLAN project and the exported thing could be renamed, but that doesn't seem to be working for me.

 

Walk me through this, please.

Simple method:
Right Click your layout and choose:

1 hour ago, Dershem said:

Is this even possible?

It would be helpful for creating walkthroughs.

I use the program from time to time for my D&D group, and when I want a nice haunted house feel, I can turn the sunlight off or way down, but the effect of a handheld lantern would be ideal, but rendering 1 frame at a time... not ideal.

(No - not a crazy kid - an old man here, but still creating things for the fun of it)

put this in suggestions, I also use chief for D&D and I like the suggestion

Tagging onto mikes response

I second Dropbox, no comparison to iCloud OneDrive or Google drive.

I prefer blender over sketchup especially for its decimation tools and voxel modeling but if you know sketchup stick with sketchup.

I use onenote but fan of Evernote. I use cursor AI for system design, i.e. folder organization and standardization.

Hardware

Logitech G604 is the greatest mouse ever created..I think the internet agrees, it's discontinued and sells for a 500 % markup from original MSRP. It's a 14 button mouse with antighosting and macro programmable keys

Spacemouse pro wireless for your left hand. John schrader of chief experts has done some extensive troubleshooting of its problems in Chief and I think got it working perfectly. Might want to reach out to him

Streameck is a great device. I use the radial menus of the spacemouse in conjunction with modifier keys on my g604 giving a potential 500+ hotkeys with on screen graphics.

Here is a link to Pro Academy

https://www.chiefexperts.com/a/17203/23723z2t

I'll be at the booth all day Wed the 18th for anyone that wants to come say hi and talk shop, learn some new tricks, or have some laughs with the chief sales floor crew and I

On 2/14/2026 at 2:48 PM, MarkMc said:

The Y origin of the symbol controls that

Just FYI mark you no longer have to change the Y origin as that shifts the origin of the symbol, they added an additional function to change the inset. This makes it so that you can insert it into a cabinet OR insert without a cabinet without the Y offset messing up placement for one or the other

10 minutes ago, CassieSkaggs said:

I have a ceiling I'm trying to model on the underside of a porch cover. It will have scissor trusses that will reduce as they move out. There is a vault in the middle (so 2 plans, one each side). 

Slopes:

1) Following the peak

2) Following the ascending truss bottom

 

Is there a way to do this? 

 

Thanks!