Tool Palettes - updating Content Browser

[Anonymous]

I'm creating/updating the office standard TPs for ACA2015 (this seems consistant with older versions).  i.e. created a blank 'Hatch' TP last week and dragged the TP into the CB.  Today I finally added my hatch patterns to the TP which then dragged the TP into CB.  How come the TP in the CB does not update but adds a new TP?

Thanks.

[David_W_Koch · Accepted solution]

If I understand what you did correctly, you:

1.  Created an editable tool palette in AutoCAD Architecture and then dragged that tool palette to a tool catalog in Content Browser.

2.  At a later time, you added tools to the very same tool palette in AutoCAD Architecture (in your local workspace), and then dragge the revised tool palette to the same tool catalon in Content Browser.

3.  In Content Browser, you were expecting the previously created tool palette to be replaced by the newer version, but instead a second tool palette was created in Content Browser, and the original palette remained as it was when first brought into the catalog.

This is expected behavior.  There is no connection between the palette in your local workspace and the one in the Content Browser, so ACA creates another palette, using the same "name".  ACA is perfectly happy to have multiple palettes with the same display name, as it uses a globally unique identifier (GUID) to distinguish between them.

To do what you want to do, you have to do the following:

1.  Create a palette in your local workspace.  (Optional:  Add tools.)

2.  Drag the palette to a tool catalog in the Content Browser.

3.  From the Content Browser catalog library home level, right click on the tool catalog and choose Properties from the context menu.  Verify that the Link items when added to workspace toggle (near the bottom) is checked.  If not, check it.  Select OK to dismiss the Catalog Properties dialog.

4.  Open the catalog and, if necessary, navigate to the palette added in Step 1.

5.  i-Drop the palette from Content Browser into your current workspace.  This will create a linked copy of the palette.  You may want to set up a separate Tool Palette Group for linked palette(s), prior to i-dropping it.  OPTIONAL:  You may want to delete the original palette (or not, your choice).  The linked palette will have a refresh icon in the lower right corner of the palette.

6.  To revise the palette and update the version in Content Browser, in the ACA workspace, right click on the palette anywhere but over a tool, and choose Properties from the context menu.  In the Palette Properties dailog, uncheck the Refresh from toggle.  This will temporarily break the connection to the Content Browser and allow you to edit the palette.

7.  Add tools to the now editable palette.  If you want to edit the properties of tools already on the palette, you will need to right click on the tool, choose Properties from the context menu and then uncheck the Refresh from toggle in the Tool Properties dialog.

8.  Once you have all of the edits done, open Content Browser, open the tool catalog that holds the palette and, if necessary, navigate to the location where the palette is within the catalog.  Drag the edited palette from the ACA workspace and drop in the Content Browser.  You should get an alert dialog indicating that the palette exists and asking if you want to replace it.  Choose Replace.  [If you do not get that alert, then something is amiss, as ACA is not seeing a link between the workspace palette and the Content Browser palette.]

9.  With the changes copied to Content Browser, you can now go into the properties of any tools that were edited and recheck the Refresh from toggle and then press OK to save the change.  When all of those (if any) are done, you can then go into the properties of the palette and recheck the Refresh from toggle.  ACA will refresh each tool or palette as the OK is pressed after the Refresh from toggle is checked.  DO NOT recheck the Refresh from toggle before dragging the edited palette back to the Content Browser unless you want to abandon any changes, as doing so will refresh the tool/palette from the definition in the tool catalog, undoing any edits made in the workspace.

It is not as bad as it reads.  It works rather well if all you are doing is adding tools to the end of an existing tool palette.  If you need to rearrange the tools on the palette, you may find that more problematic.  To assure the proper order, I have had to copy the tools to another palette, and then paste them back in the order I want them.  This should work alright if you are i-dropping the entire palette.  If anyone is i-dropping individual tools (to create a custom palette with office standard tools), the cut and paste may break the link back to the catalog tool.  (I have not experimented with that, as we add our network-based tool catalog location as a Tool Palettes File Location directly in the typical user's profile, created locked palettes.)

[Anonymous]

Sounds exactly what I was looking for. will have to redo all the TPs. luckily, we haven't implemented 2015 yet.
Again you are the Master!

Thank you!

[Sabrina_Pilon]

I have spent countless hours trying to successfully populate Tool Palettes companywide without success. When the creator comes back to her desk after Publish the catalog to the network drive and dragging and dropping them into each of the employee's stations,... her palettes are missing in her station.... they are no longer in her ACA interface. When she tries to drag and drop them in again and republish, mutiple catalogs are created in the network drive.... so many wierd things are happening. I have worked days and days on this. This was the last thing I tried:

1. Check the local palettes at the creator's station to make sure that the tools are in working order…

    -that they are sourcing to the right drawings on the network drive

    -checking to make sure the dynamic blocks are set to the correct default visibility state

    -checking the mapped layers of the tools in the Tool Properties

2. We have made the tools locally on a local catalog, and then chosen to publish a copy of it to a network drive from which the rest of the office will extract palettes

2. Because many people have been authoring palettes, I've started from scratch. I have done the following: 

    - We deleted all palettes and catalogs on the network drive.

    - We opened the Content Browser at the authoring station and as well as office workstations and deleted all custom catalogs and palettes

    - We created a new Catalog called RXR 2015 Local & draggged and dropped authoring palettes into that catalog (some were refreshing and others   were not); I attempted to disconnect the link by unchecking the link properties in the palette; I was trying to get them all set to not linking before creating the first local catalog (perhaps I was not successful in doing this)
3. Then we right clicked the catalog and PUBLISHed it to the network drive (source files are stored on the network drive)
4. then we deleted the copy of the catalog in the authoring Content Browser
5. Renamed the catalog on the network drive
6. Created a new catalog in the authoring Content Browser that references the newly renamed network catalog to test
7. Tools worked properly which gave us confidence to begin creating a new catalog from the network location at each of the employee's workstations

When the creator comes back to her desk after Publishing the catalog to the network drive and dragging and dropping them into each of the employee's stations,... some of her palettes are missing in her station.... they are no longer in her ACA interface. When she tries to drag and drop them in again and republish, mutiple catalogs are created in the network drive.... so many wierd things are happening and so much down time is now seriously and negatively effecting productivity in the office.

[Sabrina_Pilon]

Additionally, when she tries to drag and drop them in again and republish, the catalog creates mulitplies and the link breaks within a few hours. The original catalog is 7kb in size, is then replaced with a catalog 4kb in size, with the word copy after it, 7 kb in size, and a third catalog, 7 kb in size. The original catalog no longer has the palettes in it.

[leothebuilder]

Assuming that you know how to create and place a tool catalog on

your server from there do the following on each work station:

Add Shared Tool Catalog
Open the Content Browser
Click in the grey area and right click.
Select “Add Catalog”
Click on the radio button “add existing catalog or website”
Click on the browse button
Browse to Network/Shared ACA Tool Catalog
Select “Your Custom.atc”
Close
Add Your Custom Palettes to your tool palette:
Right click the spine of your tool palette
Select down at the bottom “All Palettes”
Open the Content Browser (Home Tab on the ribbon, “Tools” button on the left
hand side, click on the arrow and select “Content Browser”)
Browse to the tool palette you want to use and I-drop on your tool palette
Right click the spine of your tool palette and select “Customize Palettes”
In the right hand pane, collapse the groups that are displayed.
Right click in this pane and select “Add New Group”
For group name enter “Yourn Custom”
In the left pane drag and drop the palettes to added from the content browser to
the Your Custom group and close the customize dialog box.
Right click the spine of your tool palette and select Your Custom, all the
custom tool palettes will appear.
Notice on the bottom right hand corner of each tool palette the “refresh” button,
Refresh from time to time and new added tools will appear in the palette.