Archibus Smart Client

Selecting the Default Drawing Program

To access your CAD drawing tool from the Smart Client, you must first select a default drawing environment. The default drawing program is the AutoCAD program that launches when you select a drawing from the Drawing List.

Archibus offers the following drawing environments for editing CAD drawings:

• The Smart Client Extension for AutoCAD is an add-in to Autodesk's AutoCAD products, a product predominately used for 2D drafting. It enables you to update your drawings and Archibus databases in the same environment. It can also can work with Autodesk's AutoCAD Architecture (formerly Architectural Desktop).
• The Archibus Extension for Revit provides similar functionality from within Revit, Autodesk's 3D building modeling product.

These selections appear in the list only if the AutoCAD application is installed on your system.

You can select as a default program any of the supported AutoCAD programs installed in your machine. To see the complete list of supported products, search for the "System Requirements for Archibus" topic in the System Management Help.

Note: After installing AutoCAD, you must launch the application before setting it as the default CAD tool. If you do not first launch the application, it does not appear in the list of CAD applications to select as a preference. However, it is not necessary to launch Revit before selecting it as a preference.

To set your default drawing environment:

1. In Archibus Smart Client, run the Setup / Preferences command on the Ribbon.

2. On the Preferences window, click the Select Values button (ellipsis) next to the CAD Application list.

   The CAD Selector form appears. The Default CAD Applications list includes the supported CAD applications installed on your computer.

3. In the CAD Applications list:

   • Select a CAD application to make it the default application that launches when a drawing task is launched from the Smart Client. The CAD Application list shows the supported AutoCAD products installed in your machine.
   • If you select None, no AutoCAD application launches when you select a drawing, and Archibus functionality is not available when you launch your AutoCAD tool.
4. Click OK.

See Also

For information on how to temporarily disable or enable Archibus features, see Enabling / Disabling Archibus Features for AutoCAD Programs