Ability to set default settings for all machines in an office

[Christiaan]

I'm currently writing some tutorials/instructions for little things like importing OS Map DWG files, etc. and it occurred to me that I could do away with much of the text I'm writing if only VectorWorks had different default settings.

Of course this is the classic conundrum. One person's favourite is another person's extra click of the mouse. More so, NNA always seem to choose the default I don't want.

One way to alleviate this problem is to make defaults stick once a user has chosen one. NNA have begun implementing this although many settings don't appear to be implemented yet and many that appear to have been implemented to some extent don't always stick across sessions.

I hope work on this is continuing, but there's another way that make life a lot easier, especially for offices with more than a few users: allow one machine to propagate defaults to all other machines on the network.

And I'm talking about everything: from the Cloud tool billow settings to DWG import settings. This would mean instead of having to write screeds of instructions for users to follow I can simply tell them to use the default settings. They can change them using the method described above of course but the ability to set all defaults from a remote machine after a new installation or upgrade would be a godsend.

[maarten.]

You can copy the setting files (application support/VW/2008/settings) from your computer and paste those on the new computer... That would save you some time allready, but there are only a few settings in those files, so i agree, it would be cool if VW would remember all the settings. So instead of only save the layout and modes in an extern file, VW could also save all the pio preferences in an extern file aswell.

[brudgers]

While they're at it, they could document the various settings as well.

I'm going to hold my breath...starting now!

[islandmon]

Yes, just generate a comprehensive .plist for OSX which can be passed around ...

and edited with ease. This should be very easy to script.

[mike m oz]

Islandmon, if as your post suggests you have a way of doing this, you will need to explain how in a little more detail so those of us who are mere mortals can understand how it is done.

Saved settings (aka preferences) for all PIOs and Processes (eg DWG export) is very high on my personal wish list because it would reduce the apparent complexity of the program and make it seem more user friendly. The advantages would be:

- Improved productivity (because the user would not have to endlessly repeat the same selection processes).

- A simpler and more user friendly interface (because the user would not have to constantly understand what the choices are, and then make the appropriate choice).

- Easier CAD Management (because the desired settings could be set to what is wanted).

[Christiaan]

Yes, just generate a comprehensive .plist for OSX which can be passed around ... and edited with ease. This should be very easy to script.

Except that most settings in VW don't yet have configurable and sticky defaults, so that's a large part of this request.

[AndiACD]

i just made a copy of the prefs file when i first bought the VW upgrade from MiniCAD, after setting the desired options and copy paste it into the prefs folder when i have to reinstall or if the pref get dodgy/corupt. Throwing your copy of prefs into the minions prefs folder should sort it.

But, true, Christians idea saves all the hassle.