EmmaCox

I made a chief plan of an existing cottage layout with different ceiling heights on the main floor. Now I have saved the existing cottage layout to alter the plan but since we will be taking the whole second floor off and starting fresh with new floor joists we are going to make the main floor ceiling one height. So I went ahead and changed this on chief... Now that I've cleared the whole main floor plan so that there are only a few partitions (because it will be open concept) when I try to put a new railing to go to the basement a room divider keeps showing up and it won't let me delete it. I've tried playing around with the railing that goes to the basement. If I delete the railing the room divider disappears, then I re-draw the railing to go to the basement and the room divider shows up again and won't let me delete it. I've attached the file and put some notes in red to try and show what the issues are. Sorry my explanation on here is confusing lol.. Any help would be awesome!! Winter Nov. 27 2017 - Room Divider Issue.plan

Got it to work! I opened Chief X3 and did file > open plan > and the PL1 file showed up so I clicked on it then did save as > and it saved it as a new X9 file. Thanks Dermot & Ray

I still have Chief X3 on this computer, I will try it out. Thanks Dermot

Okay, thanks Ray

Should I attach one of the old files? I took a screenshot of all the files that we have from 2005.. Not very organized but this is the new file I made and put everything in with the new X9 file.

Same thing happened

Okay, I copied all the old files into a new folder that has a new X9 file in it.. I right clicked on the PL0 file and did open with > and had to find chief X9 and then a dialog box showed in X9 (see attachment)

One of our old clients wants to do an addition on a cottage that we built back in 2005. Back in 2005 the drawings were done on Chief Architect 9.5 and we have the old drawings files saved. The file types are PL0, PL1, PL2, PL3... which I think are the plan files and every floor would be saved as a different file for some reason. There's also file types that are PB0, PB1... as well as LA1, LB1 which i'm guessing are the layout files. I tried to do file > import > import drawing, on the new Chief X9 but none of the files showed up for me to open. Anyone know how to open Chief 9.5 files into new Chief X9?

Okay thanks for the input guys, I ended up just having to put a dimension detail on the drawings.. I just made my own dimensions out of CAD lines so that it would work. The reason why I was having to do this in the first place is because our framers were getting confused when they had to take away 1" from our dimensions for the framing length.. We dimension to the 1" rigid on the main floor plan and then to the concrete on the foundation plan so that when you go from floor to floor those dimensions are the same.

So I'm trying to dimensions to two layers on the wall for the exterior dimension string. I want to dimension to both the stud and the 1" rigid insulation that is on the exterior of the stud. The only way that I am able to figure out how to do that is to manually put a line or something on the stud so that the dimension string will snap to that specific line (picture 2) but I don't like the thought of "what if" that whole wall ever got moved and then the line that I had drew didn't get moved with it. It will let me do the very exterior line which is the siding, then the rigid (which is what I set it to on the wall type), then the interior stud (which I set it in the wall type as well) and also the drywall.. Can anyone help?

Oh sorry Eric. And Michael thanks for the tip!! This will be very helpful!!

Okay, thanks for the feedback guys! And Eric, mine looks like this with check boxes.

Thank you, I'm loving X9 a lot! And okay perfect! That worked for the room specification issue, but the transform/replicate still doesn't want to default to the last command used for some reason.

I have 2 questions! 1. When I was using the transform/replicate command in Chief X3, it would remember the last command that I used it for. For example: I select an object and open the transform/replicate command and move & copy the object over 2ft. Next, I select a different object and open the transform/replicate command to move & copy the object over 3ft.. but the transform/replicate remembered that I had just copied and moved something so it already had the copy and move boxes checked off so I didn't have to check them off again. Now, on X9 every time I go to use the transform/replicate command and open it, it defaults to just having the move box checked off all the time. So if I had just copied an object and want to do it again with a different object I have to go and check off the copy box again.. I know its not a big deal to just have to check off the copy box every time I want to copy something but it is more convenient to have the last command defaulted when copying things frequently.. Does anyone know how I can set this on X9, so that it defaults to the last command?? 2. When I would open a room specification in Chief X3, it would default to last tab I had open on the previous room specification I had open. For example: I open a room specification in the kitchen to edit the ceiling height in the structures tab. Next, I open the room specification in the bedroom to edit the ceiling height and it automatically has it open on the structures tab already.. Now, on X9 every time I open the room specification it has it defaulted to open on the general tab. I know its not a big deal to have to just click on the structures tab again when I want to edit the heights, but usually I have to go through every room to edit the structure heights to make sure they are all the same... One extra step to click on the structures tab but it is more convenient if it is already open on that tab.. Can anyone help?

Yes sorry I removed the layout file! Sorry for the confusion!

Oh wow, my margins were like -14000 or something... I changed them all to 0. Not sure how that changed. Thanks!!

Okay thanks Eric

I've tried sending it to every paper size and there all just blank sheets on the preview.

What do you mean by "update the layout file"?

I've tried selecting every printer name and they are all showing up as blank sheets on the preview

Still showing as blank sheets.

We recently just upgraded our chief from X3 to X9 in my office (which is awesome!!). Today I am trying to Print to PDF from layout and it is showing the pages as blank white sheets. I'm not sure why it's not working, can anyone help me out? I have attached a screenshot of what the dialogue box says, but once I click okay the PDF is blank sheets.

I emailed CA and apparently its an additional $100 plus shipping for each hardware lock

Yes, we are going to keep the two hardware locks and just upgrade the two programs. I love the hardware locks as well as it allows me to use the program at work and at home!

Okay thank you!!