Settings Transfer The best way to keep all your
customizations handy is to create a special folder under the AutoCAD main folder
and name it something useful, say '_Custom'. If you place the underscore before
the name you can be sure it will show up at the top of the list of AutoCAD
subfolders. Some subfolders for the '_Custom' folder could be: 'Bitmaps'(for
custom toolbar icon bitmaps), 'Blocks'(for standard blocks), 'Fonts'(for
non-AutoCAD supplied fonts), 'Lisp_Files', 'Menus', 'Plotters', 'Plot Styles',
'Support', 'Templates', 'VBA_Files', and whatever else is useful. It doesn't
really matter how you structure your folders, but this will make a future system
transfer MUCH simpler. These folders
are referenced in the 'Tools->Options->Files' list and replace the
standard AutoCAD paths. Regardless of how your folders are
structured, there are a few steps involved to successfully transfer your
settings to a new station or version. While in AutoCAD, go to the
'Tools->Options->Profiles' tab and export your profile to a safe place.
This will create a 'myprofile.arg' file which holds various AutoCAD
Registry file paths, font settings, plot settings, etc. On your source system, while
AutoCAD is not running:
This article reviews transferring customizations from one version of AutoCAD to
another or from one workstation to another.
Copyright©2000-2007 ActiveDwg.com
Once you have this structure set up, you can simply copy the entire folder to a
new station or new version of AutoCAD.
(in the future, we'll look at creating a special Toolbars MNS file.)
Make a backup copy of your 'Acad.mns' file(usually in the AutoCAD '\Support'
folder), open it in Windows WordPad and locate the ***TOOLBARS section. All your
custom toolbars are here. Locate your toolbars and copy-clip the appropriate
section and definitions to the Windows Clipboard('Edit->Copy',
Right-click->Copy, or 'Ctrl-C'). Now open Windows NotePad and paste in you
toolbar information('Edit->Paste', Right-click->Paste, or 'Ctrl-V'). Save
the NotePad file as 'Toolbars.txt' or something similar. Follow similar steps
for other custom menu sections.
You may think it would be easier to just copy the entire menu file to the new
station. Well, if you are simply copying your information to a system with the
same AutoCAD version or are reinstalling AutoCAD, that would work just fine. If,
however, you are upgrading to a newer version of AutoCAD, we recommend that you
follow these steps so you will use the new menu file which will certainly
contain new commands, macros and sections which you need to explore.
The ***TOOLBARS section you just copied contained the names of all your custom
toolbar icon bitmaps. You need to locate them and copy them to a safe place.
Next, you need to locate all your custom files. These may include macro,
script, and AutoCAD extensions(.arx, .lsp, .scr, and .dvb), as well as drawing
templates and program profiles(.dwt and .pgp). These you should place in a safe
folder as well.
Finally, copy all the above collected files onto a disk or an accessible network
drive.
On your destination system, while AutoCAD is not running:
Make a backup copy of your new 'Acad.mns' file(usually in the AutoCAD
'\Support' folder), open it in Windows WordPad and locate the ***TOOLBARS
section. Open your previously saved 'Toolbars.txt' file and select its entire
contents('Edit->Select All'). Now copy-clip the toolbar information to the
Windows Clipboard('Edit->Copy', Right-click->Copy, or 'Ctrl-C'). Next,
paste the toolbar definitions into the new 'Acad.mns' toolbar section('Edit->Paste',
Right-click->Paste, or 'Ctrl-V'). It doesn't matter where so long as it does
not interrupt another toolbar definition.
Next, copy all the originally collected files into their appropriate folders.
The final step is to got to 'Tools->Options->Profiles' tab and import your
saved profile.
When you start AutoCAD, your customized settings *should* appear.