Missing Pallete

[654work]

I created a Pallete with customized subassemblies, it is missing.  Is there a way to get this back without recreating it?

Civil 3D 2022, update 2022.2.3

[ChicagoLooper]

Hi @654work 

On command line TOOLPALETTES=>Click the Gear icon=>Select the name of your palette GROUP

If you don't see your Group then you didn't create it properly (or you didn't create one in the first place). To create a Custom Palette Group, go to Customize Palettes=>Right-click in the right panel area named'Palettes Groups'=>New Group=>name & make a new Group

Next, Drag-and-Drop one of the OOTB palettes in the left panel and place it under your new Group. You must have a palette, any ol' palette, to create a New Group.  You can delete the any ol' palette later, but for now, your highest priority is to establish your custom group and you can only do that with a 'dummy' palette.

At this point, you may close the Customize window and your Customized Group will contain only one Tab (the dummy tab). From here, you can add additional Tabs, e.g. create geometry tab, annotation tab, block library tab, etc. 

Drag-and-drop palettes onto the newly created Tabs. Once you've got the commands on your tabs setup, you can right-click on the 'dummy tab' and delete it.

HINT: Export your custom Group to your desktop or some other 'safe' folder. You can import the saved Group if you ever lose your palette. If you're ambitious, you can customize commands on your palette then email the saved Customized Group to a colleague. Your colleague can then import on his end so he has the same commands. For example, a command for HATCH where you customize the layer, pattern, scale and rotation, so your colleague can apply hatch just like you.

[654work]

Thanks for the reply.  Repeating your steps, I do not see the palette.  I had the palette for about 1.5 years and have been adding various customized subassemblies to it over time.  You stated, “If you don’t see your Group then you didn’t create it properly (or didn’t create it in the first place)”, I’m confused by this statement.  I’m unsure how the palette would be accessible for 1.5 years, but not created properly.  We make backups of our computers.  I was hoping there would be a file on the computer I could restore.  Please correct me if I’m wrong, the file should be located at C:\Users\rwatson\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 2022\enu\Support\ToolPalette\Palettes and named the same as the custom palette I created with a ATC extension.

[ChicagoLooper · Accepted solution]

 @654work 

Unfortunately, you didn't EXPORT your Palettes and most likely you didn't EXPORT your Palette Group either. For palette organizational purposes, create, export, and save your Palette Group and Palettes. This way you won't have to agonize recreating them if the need arises in the future. You can export from your old AutoCAD version then import them on your new AutoCAD version. 

You can't RETRIEVE your old palettes because you can only IMPORT xtp's (Palette format) and xpg's (Palette Group format) and the reason you can't import either is because you didn't properly EXPORT them in the first place. Even though you've been using Palettes for many years, AutoCAD still requires you to export Palettes to xtp's and Palette Groups to xpg's. Then, to bring them back into your working environment, AutoCAD requires you to import the xtp's and xpg's. 

Image-1

Sorry, but even though AutoCAD can access atc files, users can't use them to retrieve palettes or palette groups.

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[654work]

@ChicagoLooper thanks for the information.  guess I will recreate the palette and export.  I've been thinking of setting up the tool palette on our network (or SharePoint).  Guess this would be a good time.