ThreeDot

Ah, yes. The resource library is pulled from dozens of .vwx files. I forgot how this worked. I wish the default library were better organized and curated, but that's another post. Can you point me to a tutorial that explains the current best practice for creating and maintaining a shared resource library?

I recently installed Vectorworks 2026. Other than quickly testing some of the new features, I have not customized the workspace or imported any projects or resources. I should be seeing default content. When I search for something like "brick" in the Resource Manager, why do I see so many duplicates? Many resources have the same name and icon, though some appear to have slightly different data attached. Did I do something wrong, or is the default content an uncurated mess? I generally stick to the hatches, images, and symbols I've developed over the years, but as new features are introduced and my workflow changes, I need to modernize. Finding this undisciplined mess is disheartening.

If I am permitted, I strongly recommend Pure Paste by indie developer Sindre Sorhus. Mac only. https://sindresorhus.com/pure-paste

Correction: ANSI B is 11x17 ANSI D is 22x34 (I would edit my original post, but that option is missing.)

I moved to ANSI C (11x17) and ANSI D (22x34) for this very reason. I set up ANSI D sheets in Vectorworks and print them at 50% on a daily basis. On rare occasions I print full size sheets on 22x34 paper, and shrink consultant drawings to fit. When I have to print on larger sheets, I instruct my repo shop to anchor my sheets to the lower right corner. I leave the extra border at the top and in the binding. Contractors and consultants often center my sheets on 24x36 paper. It looks dumb with a large border, but I don’t care. They have the set they want and my world stays neat and tidy.

@tomhillmeyer I have the same problem. I have to check out 90 sheets to duplicate one. It makes no sense.

I love the RAL color palette and use it all the time. Thank you for sharing this amazing resource!

My team has expanded, and we are actively using Vectorworks Project Sharing for the first time. We followed published best practices for syncing the project file via Dropbox on the initial setup. That proved to be extraordinarily slow, so we switched to Vectorworks Cloud Services, hoping for improved performance, reduced bandwidth, and delta syncing. Again, we followed all of Vectorworks' guidelines for best practices and consulted with technical support on how to optimize this workflow. We are still struggling. Seemingly insignificant changes require the entire 188 MB project file to sync. That is not a huge file, but some team members are working in low-bandwidth environments where every megabyte counts. Even modest delays in file syncing mean other team members are locked out. In many cases, a minor change can trigger a full file sync, which may take several hours. Just now, I tried to duplicate a sheet layer and was prompted to check out ALL 60+ title block borders, including borders for different-sized sheets. Seriously? Did we set something up incorrectly in our workflow, or is this common for project sharing? Any advice would be appreciated.

If your goal is to make Vectorworks like AutoCAD or Rhino, you should save yourself the trouble and use AutoCAD or Rhino. If you want to become a voice for making Vectorworks more fluid, efficient, and intuitive, then use AutoCAD and Rhino as references, consider a bunch of other references, gain a deeper understanding of how Vectorworks works as an overall system, and submit suggestions to the Vectorworks team or develop your own scripts and addons. There are certainly some efficiencies that could be gained from refined shortcuts or a command line, but throughout my day, week, month, and year, many other factors have a far greater impact on overall efficiency. I recently sat with an AutoCAD-based architect and I was struck by how busy he seemed — fingers flying, keyboard clacking, switching between apps — to produce very little. Vectorworks is clunky in some respects and there is room for improvement, but at the end of the day, I can produce a lot of very fine drawings and models that are precise and easy to understand. I want good shortcuts and a well-structured app, but overall efficiency is what matters most to me.

I agree that the existing shortcuts are limiting. In MiniCAD and early versions of Vectorworks, I recall seeing a graphic where the tool palette was rotated 90° and laid across the keyboard, indicating how shortcuts were determined. Even as a high school student, I thought, wow, that seems short-sighted. We still have that system today! I'm a child of DOS, and I've spent many years with AutoCAD and Rhino. The command line is an extraordinarily powerful, flexible, and efficient interface. I was part of a CAD startup in 2006 that included a floating command module, very similar to Spotlight, Alfred, or Raycast on macOS today. More recently, I helped design an operating system for a Class 1 railroad that included a beautiful command module that allowed users to query massive amounts of data (schedules, trains, equipment, lifts, shipping containers, staff, customers, rail yards, rail lines, etc.) and generate tables, charts, graphs, maps, and all sorts of other interactive tools with a few keystrokes. These were rich, graphic apps that could be used with a mouse, keyboard, or touchscreen, but the true power and efficiency were in the command line. Vectorworks has a Quick Search feature, which is not quite a command line, but opens the door to similar functionality. You should explore what it can and cannot do today, and become a vocal proponent of streamlining interaction and increasing the potential of this tool. https://app-help.vectorworks.net/2021/eng/VW2021_Guide/Start/Quick_Search.htm

Thank you, @Matt Panzer, @Tom W., @zoomer, @line-weight, and everyone else for helping. I learned new obscure quirks in Vectorworks! I feel like I'm constantly troubleshooting problems that don't have solutions. Like the profile, fill, and line questions posted above. Now that I am looking at the polygon render modes again, I can see why they might be useful. They have a certain charm. But why is everything need to be so disorganized and convoluted? Vectorworks is starting to feel like a junk drawer that never gets cleaned out. I love Vectorworks, but I feel the constant friction of needless complexity. I started with MiniCAD in high school and have been using Vectorworks professionally since version 8.5. Every cycle, new features are added, and the underlying concepts shift, but the interface is refined, removed, or streamlined. We get more options, more nested dialogues, more instructional text, and frankly, more burden. A considerable portion of my work as an architect (in the physical world) and a systems designer (in the digital world) involves strategically removing things or, at the very least, reframing them in a new context. That doesn't happen with Vectorworks, at least not in a meaningful way. I spent several hours trying to understand this problem. Several people on this forum jumped in to help. I submitted a bug, which means a bunch of people at Vectorworks will spend time on this. I think about the massive compounding burden that a non-decision, like keeping a single legacy feature, has on Vectorworks designers, engineers, QA, documentation, training, custom support, new users, and existing users to serve a marginal few. The Vectorworks team has made huge advances to underlying technologies, and we're starting to see new interface graphics in the past few versions. This is great, but the underlying structure of how information is organized and presented needs to be seriously reconsidered, or we will all be buried under the weight of legacy features and concepts. I love Vectorworks, but my love is not unconditional.

@Tom W. I agree that depth cueing will be much more helpful! I wish the Vectorworks team would streamline the advanced section settings to include custom profile and depth cueing, and eliminate the outdated, broken, and confusing Polygon rendering modes and options. Does anyone even use Polygon rendering modes these days?

I wasted quite a bit of time on this, and I'm sure I'm not the first. Perhaps the Vectorworks team could make it work in other render modes.

Thanks, @E|FA. I'll submit a bug report.

@Tom W. OMG, I haven't thought about the Polygon render mode in years! You're right, that does "work". I mean, it's totally broken, but it tries to work. Here's a screenshot of various render modes. I set objects beyond the cut plane to have a light blue outline and a transparent pink fill. Ick.