Dermot

Most of the objects in the simpson library are either hardware symbols or cad blocks. There is no way currently to put a hardware symbol or cad block into a schedule. You could convert the hardware symbols you want into another symbol type, such as a fixture, and then you would be able to create a schedule with them. In X13, you will be able to add hardware symbols to schedules without needing to convert them. There is still no way to add a cad block though. If this is something that you want, you should submit a feature request.

Here is some general info about trouble shooting slowdowns: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00521/troubleshooting-slowness-in-chief-architect-plans.html

Here is some more info about archive files: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00099/accessing-your-archive-files.html

See if this tech article helps: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01131/associating-plan-layout-and-library-files-with-the-latest-version-of-chief-architect-or-home-designer.html

You should first check to make sure that the catalog is compatible with your product and version. If you look for the little "I" symbol and hover over it, then you will see what versions it will work with. More info about importing downloaded libraries can be found here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00090/obtaining-library-content.html If all else fails, then you might want to contact tech support.

Those are totally different tools with different purposes. File>Import 3D Symbol is the tool to use if you want to bring in a 3D model from some other program such as sketchup. Library>Import Library is the tool to use if you want to bring in a custom library symbol(s) that has already been converted into a Chief Architect symbol. BTW, right-clicking on the User Catalog and using the New>3D Symbol tool should work basically the same as Import 3D Symbol. I believe Eric just used the Import 3D Symbol tool and made all of the changes necessary to create a proper Chief electrical light and then exported it as a Chief library object. He basically did all of the work for you. The symbol you were trying to import needed to be imported as a Electrical symbol. You need to use the Advanced Options so that you could rotate it about the z-axis and adjust the origin offsets so that it will sit on the wall correctly. It really helps to turn on the axis indicators to see what you are doing. You also need to set it as Wall Mounted and as a Light on the Options panel. More info about importing symbols can be found here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/5305/importing-symbols.html?playlist=108

This is the user forum for the Chief Architect professional products, Premier and Interiors. The user forum for the Home Designer products can be found here: https://hometalk.chiefarchitect.com/ Although there are no automatic elevation dimension tools, you can manually draw dimensions in cross section and elevation views in HD Architectural 2021. More information about the dimension tools in the Home Designer products can be found here: https://www.homedesignersoftware.com/support/article/KB-01002/using-the-dimension-tools.html

I would start here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/playlists/92/dimensions.html

There is a wall type for "Siding - Thick" that is similar. There should also be a "Wall, Siding-6" in the core libraries. If you draw a wall in your plan using the library one, it will automatically add it to your plan's list of wall types. If you want that exact wall type from your legacy plan, you can copy a wall from the legacy plan into your new plan which will also add it to the list of wall types. You could also build your own wall type to be whatever you would like. Some more info about wall types can be found here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/playlists/85/walls.html?playlist=1 https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-02944/defining-a-new-wall-type.html

There is also a tech article that might be helpful: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-03107/creating-a-stair-rake-wall.html

An X8 version should not be needed since X12 should be able to read any V10 plans. If you still have any .pl1 files, just open them up in V10 first and then save them. This will create a .plan file that you can then open in X12. You don't have to manually make copies of your old V10 plan files. X12 will automatically create a backup of them in your archives folder when you first save them. You should still be able to open these archive files in V10. You may still want to create your own backup/archive system though if it helps you to better keep track of your older files. When you installed X12, it took over the system file associations so that all .plan and .layout files will automatically open in X12 whenever you try to open them. There is no way that I know of to have two different programs associated with a particular file extension. You can either have V10 associated with them or X12 (or neither) but not both. If you would rather have V10 associated, you will have to change this manually. Here is a tech article that includes a link for changing file associations manually: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-01131/associating-plan-layout-and-library-files-with-the-latest-version-of-chief-architect-or-home-designer.html You may also want to check out this migration guide that has a lot of good information about migrating from older versions: https://cloud.chiefarchitect.com/1/pdf/documentation/chief-architect-x12-migration-guide.pdf

I recommend checking out these tech articles: Backing up Chief Architect Content Restoring Chief Architect Content

There have been a number of improvements made in this area so X12 should work much better than X9. You may want to post a plan with your problems and we can see if it works better in X12.

In X12, the "Reset Side Windows" tool should restore the sizes of the preview and selection windows back to the system defaults. In X11 and prior, you may have to do this manually. Just pull the very hard to see resize handle up as shown in the picture below or in Eric's video above.

I believe all of the buttons that are in the toolbar are also in the menus. So technically, you don't actually need them to finish your assignments. Please see this tech article for more help: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00467/troubleshooting-missing-toolbars.html

My guess is that you blended the wallboard material with the tile material you already had instead of replacing it. More information about working with materials can be found here: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/category/8/materials.html

If you post the plan, someone will probably be able to figure it out without having to make guesses. If all else fails, you can always contact technical support. I missed that detail from your first post. Eric was correct in that you can't really do that with a soffit. If you are using an automatic bay window, you can probably get what you want by just lowering the ceiling:

Soffits can corner join at either the front or back corner the same as other cabinets. They can be joined even if you draw them sloppy, but I prefer to set a temp point to get them to join exactly where I want them. Polyline solids, slabs, or counter tops will also work and would give you some more freedom with the shape.

You can always make a new save plan view just using the "Save Active View As" tool, as mentioned above. You can import any saved plan views from a plan that already has the ones you want, as mentioned above. In addition, you can also create new saved plan views for a legacy plan by opening the layout and selecting the views you want and using the "Create Saved Plan View" edit toolbar button. You can also set them up pretty quickly just using the Project Browser. It has tools to create new ones from scratch as well as make copies of any existing ones. It also has the ability to group select so that you can make changes to multiple saved views all at the same time.

The interior and exterior labels in the door dialog preview just show you the side of the door that you are currently looking at. To know whether a door is considered an interior or exterior door, you should always look at the dialog title. See the picture below. The program will place either an interior or exterior door based on the wall that you place it on. The wall will be considered an interior wall or exterior wall based on the room types on both sides. All of the rules for the different room types can be a little bit confusing but most of the time it should just make sense. Please note that door can actually change from an interior or exterior door if you later change any of your rooms or move it to a new location. This may not always be obvious because only some of the door settings will change automatically". When any setting that is a "dynamic default", such as the door style, is set to "use default", this setting will change based on the current door defaults being used. Settings that are not dynamic defaults, such as the door width, will not change automatically. For example, if you draw a simple 4-wall box house and then place a door, the door should be an exterior door. If you then delete one of the walls, causing the program to lose the room definition, the door will automatically switch to an interior door but it will remain at the original exterior door width. On a side note, this behavior is changing in X13. Interior and exterior doors will be determined at the time they are placed and will not change automatically based on changing your rooms or moving them to a new location.

Chief Architect Premier X9 should have all of those options.

If you are mostly doing interior work, try this: - In your General Wall Defaults, set the Resize About to Inner Surface and turn on Show Wall Length When Editing. - In your Auto Exterior Dimension Defaults, turn off Auto Refresh Dimensions - In your Temporary Dimension Defaults, turn on Locate Wall Surface and Locate Both Wall Sides

See if this tech article helps: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-03064/live-views-on-layout-appear-blurry.html If not, then you should post a plan and layout that demonstrates the problem you are seeing. If all else fails, then you may want to contact technical support during normal business hours.

Stairs will only display automatically on the floor above if they within an open below room. You can either create a fake room around your exterior stair using invisible walls or use the reference display to display them. One advantage of the fake room solution is that the up arrow will automatically switch to a down arrow and you have some more control over how stair break lines will display.

See if this tech article helps: https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00521/troubleshooting-slowness-in-chief-architect-plans.html