[Vince]

I have different profiles set-up for groundworks / civil engineering to keep things manageable – sewers, foundations, services and external works. Then there are 6 to 10 tool chests in each profile.

Only a few of the tools are in more than one profile e.g. oversites will be in foundations and external works.

I also have more profiles set-up for other trades as I do use slightly different screen layouts for some of them i.e. different tool bars showing.

It seems to work.

[Vince]

Hi @David Cutler

Just click on the cut-out and press CTRL then drag the new cut-out to wherever you need it placed.

Or you can copy & paste the cut out but then you will probably have to move it to the correct place once you have done the pasting.

[Vince]

I can’t see anyway that a formula can be used so my only suggestion is to draw up some grids using the poly lengths at 2′ centres – maybe make a few up with different overall shapes and sizes. Group these lengths together and save as a tool.

Then when required lay the grid over your slab area, ungroup it and make the fine tuning adjustments to suit the actual shape.

Not ideal but this may save some time compared to starting afresh each time.

[Vince]

Hi @David Cutler

I’m not using sets or adding drawings to an existing open one.

Basically, all I’m doing is combining several drawings from the same folder e.g. Engineering Layouts Sheets 1 of 4 to 4 of 4. It would appear that they all would have come from the same master file created as a DWG file.

The layers all appear to match as they should do if they came from one original.

I like your thought about options to keep the layers but I haven’t found this yet.

[Vince]

Once you do get on to Power Query though, you should be able to have a set-up similar to my drainage one e.g. you could have a mark-up for a standard water main, then another one with a different symbol at the end to represent a gate valve.

The Subject or a custom column would be used to record these details.

Power query would then generate the necessary output details for your pricing software.

[Vince]

@David Cutler I meant to have one mark-up in your tool chest for say a cast iron water main. Then in a custom column have your options in a drop-down menu i.e. different sizes along with your product code – this is the column that your pricing software would refer to instead of your current subject or label. Then use your label to identify the size on your pipe on your drawing.

No Power Query – yet!😆

[Vince]

As @Doug McLean has suggested, can you narrow down your list of tools by having one main item then further options in a drop-down list in a custom column? E.g. One water main but then with the different size options?

[Vince]

Maybe I need to try and have a few more accidents and then I might come up with something useful!

[Vince]

Only found this one a few weeks ago myself @David Cutler as I was actually trying to do something else! 😂

[Vince]

The other thing I tried to do was to draw a shape with a cut out then ‘fill’ that void with the grid – no luck!

[Vince]

I tried a quick couple of calculations from different sizes of squares & rectangles, although the results were reasonable accurate on some they were way out on others. I would imagine this variance will just grow with irregular shapes.

[Vince]

😂

[Vince]

It sounds like you need to do a blog on the subject @troy-degroot !😆

[Vince]

I haven’t lost any information yet @David Cutler .

I’ve also done a load of mark-ups without realising that I was in the wrong profile and when I imported the correct columns all of the information that I needed was there. This however was probably something to do with the same tools being in two different tool sets e.g. oversite areas are in both my foundations and external works profiles.

[Vince]

Sounds rather clever @troy-degroot !

I tested out the code that I sent through and all you have to do is open the document then save it for the date to update.