mrgrotey Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Hi guys, just read a post a couple down the list about templates and it reminded me of something ive never really understood, what is the benefit if creating a template file rather than setting up your working environment and just saving it as a .dwg file to use a master? i dont see any reason for this but hopefully you clever people do. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodoo2005 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 yes i think u r right and these templates is just for international understanding of AutoCAD benifits and usage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 You can instruct Autocad to use your .dwt template as the default when starting a new drawing, so every time you open the program, your template will automatically load with everything set up the way you like. If you save your template as a .dwg drawing file, then acad will load up with the default template at startup and you will then have to go browsing for your drawing file. It's just a time saver. Most importantly though, if you use a .dwg file as your template, you have to make sure to do a SaveAs the first time you save or you will overwrite your drawing template file. If you use a .dwt, the first time you save you automatically get the SaveAs dialog box without even having to think about it. Here's an example: You open you .dwg template file and start drawing, you unthinkingly save, you draw some more, you save, etc., etc. At the end of the day, you save and go home. You come back the next day and go to your job folder, expecting to find the file you worked on yesterday, but the file isn't there. You search and search but the file doesn't exist. Now angrily you open your .dwg template file to start over again and guess what, your drawing is inside the template file. Now, every time you make this mistake, you have to create a new template file to replace the one that you ruined. This is a true story. It happened to me once a long time ago. I started creating .dwt templates after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yedan Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 yep thats the benefit of templates, you reduce the risk of saving over your set up, because your not saving over your template drg, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zars Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Have never used templates before but getting interested about creating one. So could anyone point me to what should I save into my new template??? also could give me examples??? Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzframpton Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 You can instruct Autocad to use your .dwt template as the default when starting a new drawing, so every time you open the program, your template will automatically load with everything set up the way you like. If you save your template as a .dwg drawing file, then acad will load up with the default template at startup and you will then have to go browsing for your drawing file. It's just a time saver. Most importantly though, if you use a .dwg file as your template, you have to make sure to do a SaveAs the first time you save or you will overwrite your drawing template file. If you use a .dwt, the first time you save you automatically get the SaveAs dialog box without even having to think about it. Here's an example: You open you .dwg template file and start drawing, you unthinkingly save, you draw some more, you save, etc., etc. At the end of the day, you save and go home. You come back the next day and go to your job folder, expecting to find the file you worked on yesterday, but the file isn't there. You search and search but the file doesn't exist. Now angrily you open your .dwg template file to start over again and guess what, your drawing is inside the template file. Now, every time you make this mistake, you have to create a new template file to replace the one that you ruined. This is a true story. It happened to me once a long time ago. I started creating .dwt templates after that. LOL good story.... but there is a good way to stop this from happening - se tthe STARTUP variable to 1. that way it'll list all your templates, and when you open it, it's automatically saves as a DWG. in fact, you have to Save As to save as a template or override the template file. some people like the startup, some don't... i'm a fan of it tho :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzframpton Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Have never used templates before but getting interested about creating one. So could anyone point me to what should I save into my new template??? also could give me examples??? Alex zars, mrgrotey, i'll explain - because they're a HUGE timesaver in the longrun. create a new DWG file, and get all your LAYERS in order (Each named layer, LW, LT, etc), get your CTB/plot set up, bring in your Title Block & Attributes (if any) in to paperspace, set all your text styles, all your dim styles, and when you have EVERYTHING set in place, do a Save As and save it as an AutoCAD Template (which is a *.DWT file). now, everytime you load that file when starting a new drawing, you don't have to keep repeating those steps for EVERY SINGLE NEW DRAWING..... that's the whole point of it. :-) try it out, it'll take a few times to really fine tune it. also, it works wonders when you use multiple layouts in paperspace and what not. it just simply automates the "setup" process of new drawings, if you find yourself repeating the 1st steps a lot when drawing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgrotey Posted August 23, 2006 Author Share Posted August 23, 2006 Most importantly though, if you use a .dwg file as your template, you have to make sure to do a SaveAs the first time you save or you will overwrite your drawing template file. If you use a .dwt, the first time you save you automatically get the SaveAs dialog box without even having to think about it. Oh yeah never thought of that, but to be honest i always click on 'New' and select the .dwg file that i want as a template and it opens a copy of the .dwg anyway whereas 'Open' opens the drawing itself. Cheers for the info guys, i consider myself well informed! [edit] StykFacE: yeah i knew how to make them just didnt know the benefit of them over dwgs but thanks to the clever peeps i do now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zars Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Thanks Styk for the info. Sure I'll try it out, everything that's helpful is worthy to give a shoot!!! Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzframpton Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 [edit] StykFacE: yeah i knew how to make them just didnt know the benefit of them over dwgs but thanks to the clever peeps i do now oh okay, after re-reading your 1st post i see now what you're sayin... lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ako Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Oh yeah never thought of that, but to be honest i always click on 'New' and select the .dwg file that i want as a template and it opens a copy of the .dwg anyway whereas 'Open' opens the drawing itself. When you click on new doesn't it change the filetype to dwt and automatically direct you to the templates directory? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgrotey Posted August 23, 2006 Author Share Posted August 23, 2006 Nope, it goes to the folder I last chose a .dwg out of. It probably went to the template directory the first time but it remembers the last place you took a file from, and obviously in my case, the format of the file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ako Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Ahh! right, You manually changed it the first time. As soon as you change the filetype back to dwt it jumps to the location for templates set up in options. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SherryLF Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 I'm tired of setting up my files over and over as well. What would you recommend go in your template files? Just from my own use, I'd put in my main colors/line weights/types, the note boxes I usually use, and my plant blocks (however, I plan to add those to a plant palette), along with a connection to my own cbt file. Set up for my dims & leaders. What else do you guys do? Sherry MLA student Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Title block and border. Standard notes. North arrow. Legend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkent Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 I'm tired of setting up my files over and over as well. What would you recommend go in your template files?Just from my own use, I'd put in my main colors/line weights/types, the note boxes I usually use, and my plant blocks (however, I plan to add those to a plant palette), along with a connection to my own cbt file. Set up for my dims & leaders. What else do you guys do? Sherry MLA student See JPG attached. I would include any of those that you will want already in a drawing. For sure Layers, Dimstyles, Linetypes, Multileaderstyles, Textstyles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SherryLF Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 I'm actually working on my blocks now from that drop down menu - thanks! What is that group of files/folders called, just curious? Thanks to both of you for your response! Making a to do list! S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkent Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 I copied that from the Design Center. Opened DC, Navigated to my template, expanded the view. TIP - once you have navigated to the file in DC, left click, pick 'set as home'. Now when you think of blocks, styles, etc. to add to your template and wish they were in a drawing you have been working on, you open DC, pick the little Home icon, now you can quickly find the styles, blocks, etc. you have added and drag them to the current file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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