Plug In Export/Migration

[TurtleBuilds]

I have a number of plug ins that I am trying to share with a new pc and with a coworker. What is the best way to export them to share them? I know that I can essentially copy and paste to recreate them on the other machine but I'd like to avoid that if possible. When installing a plug in it looks for a vectorworks library file or a plug in package, how would I go about making these?

 

Thanks.

[Pat Stanford]

Every PIO is created as a separate file. They should have the name you have given the PIO and an extension showing the type.

 

.vso = Plug-in Object

.vst = Plug-in Tool

.vsm = Plug-in Menu Command.

 

If you created them they are likely in your User Folder:Plug-ins

 

Send those files to your coworker and have them put them in their Plug-ins folder and restart VW and edit their workspace to include the tools. Or share your workspace file as well User Folder:Workspaces.

 

If you want/need to be able to update these, then create a workgroup folder and store them there. Then when you edit them everyone will have the newest version the next time they restart VW.

 

Ask again if you need more details.

[Jesse Cogswell]

Pat's method above totally works, but I found the easiest way to share multiple plug-ins is to "zip" them all into a .zip file and then use the Install button in the Plug-in Manager.  To do this, follow these steps below:

1. Get to the Plug-ins folder inside the User Folder.  The quick and dirty way to do this is to open up the Vectorworks Preferences dialog, select the User Folder tab, and click on the Explore button (or the Open in Finder button on Mac).  This will open up the User Folder in an explorer window.
2. Open up the Plug-ins folder.  You should find all of your written plug-ins here, as file types .vsm, .vso, and .vst as @Pat Stanford mentioned above.
3. Your signature says that you're on Windows, so you can select all of the plug-in files that you want to share, then right-click and select Send To - Compressed (zipped) folder.  This should create a .zip file containing all of the selected plug-ins.  If you're using Windows 11, you will probably need to select Show More Options before Send To is visible.
4. Move (not copy, move or cut-and-paste) the .zip file to a location outside of the User Folder.
5. Send your colleague the .zip file.
6. On your colleague's machine, open up the Plug-in Manager by going to Tools - Plug-ins - Plug-in Manager.
7. Navigate to the Third-party Plug-ins tab.
8. Click on the Install button.
9. Navigate to the downloaded .zip file that you made earlier.
10. Restart Vectorworks.

[drock019]

Hi Guys,

 

I've been trying to transfer some custom plugins I made to a coworker as well.  I've successfully transferred them from my laptop to my desktop by just copying and pasting but, when I try transferring them to his computer they will not show up in the plugin manager.  We are both on Mac's and both running VW 2025.

 

I've verified the the user folder  that I'm putting the plugins into is correct.

 

I've also tried Jesse's approach (compressing, moving and installing) and still have not been successful.

 

I'm really trying to avoid recreating the plugin definitions because it's too time consuming.  Should I be doing something that I'm not?  Should I try locking the custom plugins before transferring them? (if so, what is the process for locking the plugins) back in 2016 there was a specific key combination that had to pressed. 

 

Not sure it makes a difference but all of my plugins are vso files

 

Thanks,

Derek

[Pat Stanford]

Have you restarted VW on his machine after moving the files?  I think VW only looks for plug-ins on start.

 

[Jesse Cogswell]

The other thing to check is that you're not migrating plugins to an older version of Vectorworks.  Once you edit a script, that script is locked to that version or newer.  It's why I still have VW2019 installed on my laptop and do all my development in it.

[drock019]

Thanks, Jesse!

I was actually able to get it working, and the issue turned out to be related to how the files were transferred to the other computer. Step #4 in your guide inspired me to try different methods of file transfer. Initially, I moved the files from my computer to Dropbox and then to my colleague's computer. While the files appeared to be in the correct locations and were visible on his system, they wouldn’t show up in the Vectorworks Plugin Manager.

To troubleshoot further, I connected directly to his computer using Mac Screen Sharing and dragged the files directly from my computer to his desktop. I then moved the files to the User Plugin folder, and this approach worked. The plugins are now successfully installed.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

Derek