Open a 2nd Instance of Chief / Copying between layouts


bdammeyer
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Hello, 

 

I was told at a Chief training class a few years ago that you could open a 2nd instance of the program by hitting (CTRL+SHIFT) on windows machines. I believe the instructor said this was sort of a work around and "not officially supported by CA."

 

The idea was that you could then have 2 layouts open at once in case you needed to copy notes, annotations, views etc... between layouts. I think i had that working at one point back on X7 but it doesn't seem to work for me now on X8. Any ideas on how to get 2 layouts open at once? 

 

(By the way - I know X8 is old and we need to upgrade)

 

Thanks

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I just tested it and it works fine on X11 and I know it worked on earlier versions all the way back to ver 9.5

 

open the first instance using the desktop icon

 

then hold the crtl and click on the desktop and the second instance will open

 

it is possible to have a multitude of instances open at the same time

 

I have done so when do a client demo 

that way I could keep position on one feature while showing another or trying something on the other(s)

 

best to do it with a copy of the plan and delete the copy when you are done

 

it is possible to cause plan corruption by making edits in more than one instance at the same time

 

Lew

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You may not be holding CTRL long enough.  I usually hold it until the second instance actually opens. On my machine it does not always work but if I see the little blue circle on my desktop for a second or so that always indicates it is in process. I think it is a keyboard issue. And CTRL+SHIFT works but I believe it is only necessary to hold down CTRL.

 

And yes as Lew says be sure to respect a Master and Reference plan file if you open two copies of the same file.

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7 hours ago, bdammeyer said:

you could open a 2nd instance of the program by hitting (CTRL+SHIFT) on windows machines

 

Just Ctrl   , doesn't need Shift .....works for me.....

 

It can be turned off but in most cases one instance is Best.

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yep, I  have no idea of having multiple layouts open will affect reference layers and plan sets

 

I last used multiple instances for a demo with X2

 

I would clone each plan and layout and then work with those while using multiple instances

 

just in case of plan/layout file corruption

 

Lew 

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Yes, it can.

I am away for a couple of days and don’t have access to my Mac.

Do a search and try and find the post.

Or maybe Scott Hall will chime in as I think it was him who asked the question about the Mac.

Or wait a day or so and I will post.

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Just tried this yesterday with X11 and it opened a second instance of Chief but the Layout we were working in was not populated by any plan files I could discern so I got out of there as fast as I could. Had success before and probably will again but that was a little creepy/scary.

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