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M:\CADD\AUTODESK\2013\Library\Blocks\ToolPalette or the
M:\CADD\AUTODESK\2015\Library\Blocks\ToolPalette directories.
However, placing it on any drive that might not be considered version dependent is also a
viable option as well.
b. Set it current
You will see that the Detail Callouts contain both blocks and
multileaders that utilize blocks as well.
For keynotes you see that some are dynamic blocks and some
are regular blocks with attributes.
c. Now we are going to right click on our tool palette and select New Palette
d. And now we are going to rename it Annotation. It is a lot better to Name a tool palette
NOW than to do it later because when you look at the actual files in windows explorer it
does not rename the actual file. SO do this immediately (technically we should have
named this SD Annotation)
e. Typically you want to start at the top so lets name our first Sub Category we will call it
Text Objects like this.
f. Now all we have to do is highlight objects from our drawing and drag and drop them into
our tool palette like this and let go.
Now lets add a separator by right clicking and selecting Add Separator (sometimes you
have to kind of make some room just to be able to right click because there is not enough
gray space to right click. You might be right clicking on the newly formed buttons
instead of the palettes so just be aware of this.
g. Continue to do this for each of the groups.
h. Now there are some things you can do to each of these items by right clicking on them
and go to their individual properties. For instance, depending on the tool, you can change
the name and or add a description to something more meaningful, you can explode it
change the layer it is placed on, its rotation angle if it is a block, etc.. If it were a
multileader style you can change the Left/Right attachment points, scale, and even the
default text. Each object has different settings so check them out. Hatch patterns are a
great example of a great way to standardize. You can even drag a polyline in there and it
will have different prompts for running those too! Shoot you can even run lisp routines
from there.
i. Go ahead and build out your current tool palette the way you want it.
5. Uploading the Master Tool Palette to the Network (Exporting and Importing)
a. Right click on the Tool Palette bar and select Customize Palettes
b. Highlight your Palette on the left hand side and select Export.
c. Give it the same name as your Palette and export. This will have a file extension of XTP.
d. Close out of the Customize Tool Palettes box.
e. Change your current profile (the one we modified) and on the files tab change the Tool
Palette File Locations to M:\CADD\Autodesk\2013\Library\ToolPalette (or where you
would like the tool palette to be placed) then select OK
f. Next go back to the tool palette and right click and select customize (like step a) and
select Import pick your XTP file.
g. Close out of AutoCAD completely. The reason you have to do this is because there are
many times including this one where AutoCAD does not commit to the changes till it
closes.
h. Open AutoCAD again with your normal profile (KHA).
i. Because you have rights to that directory now everyone should have access to that
palette. It will automatically show up for any other user who is pathed to the same
location like our standard default settings as soon as they restart their AutoCAD.
e. You should now be able to drag the palette(s) on the right to your group
g. Save this to a location that everyone can access for instance it could be in the root of the
ToolPalettes folder on the M drive if you wanted or some other place where standards are
located.
8. Updating a Palette
a. You should be able to make all future additions directly with the standard KHA profile.
The only reason you created a copy of the original profile is it is extremely handy to not
have anything commit to the server till you are actually done or ready to share your
work is essentially off line in a test environment.
b. Keep in mind that you are linked to that DWG where you dragged the blocks, styles, etc.
so never get rid of the dwg file or move its location!!!
c. From now on any updates you make to the palettes themselves there is no need for the
end user to do anything they are automatically updated after you and them have closed
out AutoCAD and reopened. HOWEVER, if you add an additional palette to the group
then you will have to re-export and they will have to reimport the group.