Sharing Project to BIM Server, Manual Backups, and Project List

In an email, I was asked about placing ArchiCAD Projects on the BIM Server that had been begun as solo PLN files.  Who should do this?  Is that something that I need to do, or is it something that any of us can do?  This brings up a couple of things I’ve wanted to go over with you all.

First, I am trying to maintain a spreadsheet that lists all of our Projects which are being done in ArchiCAD.  It is kept on a server that is Read-Only to most ArchiCAD Users, so I would ask that each of you, if you are working in a solo ArchiCAD PLN file, please send me a quick email with the file’s Project Name and Number, which version of ArchiCAD it is in, and its Category (Architecture, Interiors, Proposal, etc), so that I can add it to the list.  See a partial screenshot of the list below (Project Names are hidden here):

Opening a Project When Launching ArchiCAD

I have wanted to talk about the process by which we open projects upon launching ArchiCAD.  When greeted with the opening file selection prompt screen, it is a pretty common practice to pick from the Select a recent Project list.  But I want to discourage that.

DWG Translators

There are two new DWG Translators on the server that you can load into your ArchiCAD and use.  Translators are not part of the Template, but they are loaded from the server per installation of ArchiCAD and are not Project-specific.  Meaning: when you load these Translators, you'll be able to use them for any Project you open.

To import these into your ArchiCAD, go to File > File Special > DXF-DWG Translation Setup...

then click the Browse... button to the right in the screenshot above at the top of this post.  Navigate to the V: drive, then to ArchiCAD > CJMW DWG Translators, and pick one of the files (and then after import, come back and get the other one!).