Macros folders and organization

[CARMELHILL]

Hey guys,

 

It's been a long time since I've posted. I'm looking to bring my X18 templates into the 21st century with some macros from Alaskansons, Joe Carick, and a few others. I use Macros for all my keynotes, therefore the Text Macro Management dialogue box is already pretty crowded. Is there any way to organize it better? Can we do subfolders? Can we store Macros in the User Library and drag/drop only the macros we need for each project?

 

Thank you for everyone's advise. Starting to feel old and stupid here. I wish I could understand Ruby programming. I tried it 10 years ago and failed miserably.

[Joe_Carrick]

The only way to organize macros in TMM is alphabetical.

Objects with embedded macros that are stored in the library will automatically be added when they are placed in a plan.  It's notable that the Layout and Plan have separate sets of macros.  Some macros will work in both but it's best to keep separate sets.

[Alaskan_Son]

A few of my thoughts:

• I have also gone away from using TMM and lean much more heavily on inline macro code placed directly in labels/text boxes wherever possible.
• I only add macros to the plans that I'm using them in and either pull from the library or import from a macro folder to get them.  
• Chief has made a lot of improvements over the last several versions that have removed the need for macros in a lot of places that many of us had otherwise become dependent on them and so I have started to use a lot more tricks that involve built in functionality (Schedules and their various expanded capabilities, X18 Project Information improvements, Custom Object Information fields, the aforementioned inline code capabilities, etc.)

Side Note:  If your custom macro list is super extensive, I also have a macro that allows you to search/filter your custom macro list down to only this with specific words or characters.  

[Renerabbitt]

On 7/26/2026 at 9:32 PM, CARMELHILL said:

Can we do subfolders?

been asking for this for foreverrrr
My macros now are just big lambda hash outputs so that I dont have as many and call what i need to call.
 

 

23 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

A few of my thoughts

I use a similar concept but implemented in a different way, since its personally easier for me to distribute a template instead of distributing library items. 
I use TMM to store globals which store procedures. Library objects then will never have a conflict with the plans macro versions and the plans macros always dictate the version. I got sick of fighting the library storing macros, so they dont anymore, they just have a call and self execute once they hit the plan. 
I have a polyline that warms up everything up for me nice and toasty as a pre-cache for the globals so that they don't rebuild every time an object is placed
 

Edited Tuesday at 02:53 PM by Renerabbitt

[CARMELHILL]

I wish I spoke Greek like you guys.

[Renerabbitt]

2 hours ago, CARMELHILL said:

I wish I spoke Greek like you guys.

Haha I hear you.

Its hard to tell you a better way without being hands on. Sounds like iron Mike stores a lot of those macros in the object and the object then lives in the library. So it brings in the macro only when used 

[ComputerMaster86]

I once made a comment / suggested this a long while back.  I wish more things related to the plan were categories listed under our plan and layout file names in the project browser.  Especially macros.  We now already have sub-folders for these item category folders.  I would even add wall type definitions to this list.  I would love to see this become part of the next version of Chief Architect.

 

Edited Tuesday at 08:02 AM by ComputerMaster86

[ComputerMaster86]

On 8/8/2025 at 8:52 PM, ComputerMaster86 said:

+1 for the sub-folders +1 TMM for the modeless window.

 

I have suggested they add a category listing for macros under our plan and layout file listings for the new X17 project browser.

 

We already have sub-folder organization for the item categories that are listed.

 

 

[CARMELHILL]

8 hours ago, ComputerMaster86 said:

We now already have sub-folders for these item category folders.

 

I haven't switched to the Project Management style yet. I don't like that I can't find my files on my computers folder system, they are hidden. Not a fan of that. But I might be mistaken, that subfolder is not within the Text Macro Management dialogue. I'm guessing you can drag and drop individual macros from that subfolder into your drawings but it's just a work around. It's not a true subfolder hierarchy that organizes your macros in the TMM, where you can see them, their values, and edit them.

Am I correct?

[Renerabbitt]

24 minutes ago, CARMELHILL said:

I haven't switched to the Project Management style yet. I don't like that I can't find my files on my computers folder system, they are hidden.

Just do what I do, export the file..its the same as Save As but better. then it lives in your cloud service. A lot of additional function comes with PM.
TMM does not have a way to have subfolders, Lance is just showing an image of a suggestion.. it took me a second to understand what that graphic was as well
 

[Joe_Carrick]

Ed, when in TMM you can highlite a set of macros and export them.  The named exported file (.json) will be placed in the current Chief Data, Scripts folder but you can actually create sub-folders within that.  If you don't select any macros then the entire set will be exported.

 

That's one way to organize but TMM is just alpha-numeric of the currently installed macros in Plan or Layout.