How Can I Copy My Settings and Toolbars from 2013 to 2014?

[Bill.Schmid]

Happens every year.  Upgrade and spend half a day or more trying to get everything back to the way I had it.  All I have is a couple small toolbars for commands that are several clicks deep in the ribbons and I want them "right there" all the time.

I thought Autodesk 360 might be a good tool for this.  All it did was DOWNLOAD some old settings and destroy one of the toolbars I'd created.  They really need an override in there to specify upload, download, overwrite or don't.

Anyway, I'm trying to migrate (I guess that's the technical term) my settings from 2013 Mechanical to 2014 Mechanical.  It's probably too late already, after 360 did its deal, but I really want to get this down so we don't go through it every year anymore.

I maintain that PTC had this part of it down Pro/ENGINEER.  You had a config file that was editable plain text.

[nestly2 · Accepted solution]

I don't have Mechanical, but I believe Start > Autodesk > AutoCADxxxx > Migrate Custom Settings should be what you're looking for.  There are several Youtube videos if you'd rather watch the procedure prior to trying yourself..

[Bill.Schmid]

I guess we'll give that a try.  I'm pretty sure we've tried it in the past and it didn't work.  Maybe this time.

Thank you for your reply.

[dgorsman]

It also helps if you put the customized workspace settings in a separate CUIx instead of the ACAD or other OOTB file.  You can simply set up the Enterprise with the desired content, set your file/import to the Main and you should be golden with only minor tweaking to consider new tools, commands, and features.

[rkmcswain]

---

@dgorsman wrote:

It also helps if you put the customized workspace settings in a separate CUIx instead of the ACAD or other OOTB file. 

---

Yes! Do this ^^^^^

To offer a slightly different version of that, our "company" menu is simply a partial menu that is autoloaded when not present.

Everything non-OOTB is stored is a separate directory, which is added to the top of the Support File Search Path.

Lastly, the end of our global startup file includes a "hook" that will load a user custom lisp file (loginname.lsp) so anyone who needs special routines can get them without stomping on someone elses customization.

I literally just upgraded several people this afternoon from 2013 to 2014 with zero loss of customization for those users, and with no extra time involved other than the setup/prep I did for this years ago.

[Bill.Schmid]

Between Product Design Suite Premium and Infrastructure Design Suite Premium I've got 5 versions of AutoCAD - Plain, Mechanical, Electrical, Map and Civil.  If I create a custom cuix file, can I use it to get similar look and feel among all of them?  Or is that more with the .arg file created for a profile under the options?   Or is it a combination of the two?

[dgorsman]

Thats a little more advanced.  The profile (an ARG file is a default copy of this) points to the Enterprise and Main CUIx files; these files store the workspace settings.  The workspaces determine which UI elements are shown.  Since you have different vertical products (version is another dimension of trouble), there are UI elements exclusive for each - thats where the complications set in.  I would recommend a separate Main CUIx for each product, each with its own workspace.  You can take your custum UI content and place it into one or several CUIx files and make them partial to each product.  For example, we have a "common" set of drawing tools, so I have them grouped in their own CUIx file.  This is then made partial to each application we run e.g. P&ID software, 3D piping, 3D structural design, electrical design, and so on.  Each of those programs has its own Main and Enterprise CUIx with dedicated workspaces, but those workspaces each refer to that common partial CUIx file.

Head spinning yet? 🙂

[Bill.Schmid]

dgorsman,

Yes, pretty much.  It's not so much the creation and editing, I can get something customized, but Autodesk is so cryptic about where and how it's saved.  You really don't know if it's saved or where.

I just created a "custom" cuix file (the right half of the window).  Just a couple additions to the quick access toolbar.  But they don't show up unless I put the changes in the main cui (left half of the window).  If I make my custom one the the active one in the left, then there aren't any commands available to customize it.  It's like I have to put everything in the main cui in the left half of the window and then transfer them to the custom in the right half of window.  It just doesn't make sense how it gets saved and preserved, which is why we always wind up having to redo everything every time we upgrade.

Is there any kind of reference for how this is supposed to work?

[rkmcswain]

---

@Bill.Schmid wrote:
........., which is why we always wind up having to redo everything every time we upgrade.

Is there any kind of reference for how this is supposed to work?

---

It's totally unnecessary to repeat this task over and over. Refer to my last paragraph here. I'll be glad to answer any specific questions you might have. I've written up some stuff years ago on it that is still applicable, here is one: http://bit.ly/1aWvQWC

[Bill.Schmid]

Looks like a good article.  Thanks.  The issue becomes all the files mentioned.  Where do they come from and how do they get edited?  (at this point, those are rhetorical questions - I'm not adverse to doing some research).

Granted, the lsp files can be edited with notepad and we are using an acaddoc.lsp, although it's only got one line in it - (command "frame" "2").  But the custom cui file I don't understand.  I'll keep looking at it.

[Drafter1981]

FYI...

While researching how to solve my own problem (Import Setting Overrides), I tried reviewing some of the other similar post.

However, it seems the links have been removed, or are simply just broken.