Exploring the Style Manager
The Style Manager is an AutoCAD® Architecture utility that provides a central location where you can view and work with the styles that determine the appearance and function of objects in drawings. You can also manage layer key styles, schedule data formats and definitions for cleanup groups, mask blocks, multi-view blocks, profiles, and property sets. The Style Manager allows you to readily create or customize styles and share them with other users. In the Style Manager, you can perform the following tasks:
- Access styles from open drawings and intranet sites
- Drag styles onto a palette to create tools
- Set up new drawings and templates by copying styles from other drawings or templates
- Sort and view the styles in your drawings and templates by drawing or by style type
- Preview an object with a selected style
- Create and edit styles
- Delete unused styles from drawings and templates
- Send styles to other AutoCAD Architecture users by email
To open the Style Manager, begin by clicking the Manage tab, Style & Display panel, and then Style Manager. You can also access the Style Manager by right-clicking any style-based object tool on a tool palette and clicking <object type> Styles.
The Style Manager is split into two resizable panes and has a menu bar, a toolbar, and a status bar (see Figure 1). When you open the Style Manager, all drawings and templates that are open in the current session are displayed in the tree view in the left pane. The left pane of the Style Manager displays the styles in all open drawings and templates in a hierarchical tree view that you can navigate by expanding and collapsing the different levels in the tree. By default, styles in the tree view are sorted by the drawing that contains them but you can also sort them by style type. The tree view is always displayed in the left pane, regardless of how you sort the styles.
Styles are organized into three categories: Architectural Objects, Documentation Objects, and Multi-Purpose Objects. Within each category, styles are listed alphabetically. It is important to note that if drawings or templates are read-only, their read-only status is indicated by a lock on the folder next to the drawing in the tree view and also by a lock icon on the status bar.
The style information displayed in the right pane depends on what you select in the tree view in the left pane. For example, when the tree view is sorted by drawing and a style category is selected, the right pane lists the style types in the category. If a style type is selected, the right pane lists the styles within the type. If an individual style is selected, the right pane displays a series of tabs on which you can edit the properties of the style and preview how an object will display using that style. When the tree view is sorted by style, you can select a style type to view the distribution of the styles within that type across all drawings and templates that are open in the Style Manager.
The top of the Style Manager includes a menu bar and a toolbar for quick access to the menu commands. You can pause the mouse over a toolbar icon to display a tooltip describing the associated command. The status bar at the bottom of the Style Manager indicates how styles are sorted in the tree view (by drawing or by style), the name of the drawing, and the currently selected style type and style.
Figure 1: Style Manager
Working with Drawings and Templates in the Style Manager
When you first open the Style Manager, any drawings or templates that are open in AutoCAD Architecture are displayed in the tree view. You can also open other drawings or templates and create new drawings or templates within the Style Manager. When you create a new drawing or template in the Style Manager or open an existing one, that drawing or template is open for use only within the Style Manager, and not in your drawing session. You need to exit the Style Manager before you can open the drawing or template in the drawing session.
To determine whether a drawing or template is open in the software or only within the Style Manager, look at the icon next to the drawing or template in the tree view. The normal DWG symbol means that the drawing is open in the software and in the Style Manager. The DWG symbol along with an arrow in the bottom right corner means that the drawing is open only in the Style Manager. The DWG symbol with a lock in the bottom right corner means that the drawing is locked. A drawing may be locked in the Style Manager for any of the following reasons:
- The drawing is read-only
- The drawing was created in a previous version of the software
- The drawing is referenced into a drawing that is currently open
- The drawing is open in another application
- The drawing file is locked on a network
To view a tooltip stating the reason for the lock, select the drawing in the tree view and pause the cursor over the lock icon on the Style Manager status bar. You can save your styles in a read-only source drawing and copy them to other drawings as necessary. Any drawings and templates that you create or open in the Style Manager are listed in the tree view every time you open the Style Manager until you close them from within the Style Manager.
You can start a new drawing or template in the Style Manager. The new drawing or template does not contain any styles and is open for use in the Style Manager only. It is not open in the AutoCAD Architecture session. You can open the new drawing or template in the software after you exit the Style Manager. Begin by clicking on the Manage tab, Style & Display panel, Style Manager. On the Style Manager menu bar, click File New Drawing. In the New Drawing dialog box, for File Name, enter the new drawing name (see Figure 2). For Files of Type, select Drawing (*.dwg) to create a drawing or select Drawing Template (*.dwt) to create a template and then click Save. Now click OK.
Figure 2: New drawing
Creating a Style in the Style Manager
If you want to create a new style or definition for a particular type of object, you can start with the default style properties for that object type or you can copy an existing style that has most of the properties you want. In either case you then edit the style properties as needed to specify the desired object characteristics. Begin by clicking the Manage tab, Style & Display panel, Style Manager. The Style Manager displays with all open drawings listed in the tree view and the current drawing expanded. Now expand the object category (Architectural, Documentation, or Multi-Purpose) and object type for which you want to create a style.
If you want to create a style with default properties, then right-click the style type and click New. If you want to create a style from an existing style, then expand the style type, right-click the style you want to copy, and click Copy. Right-click and click Paste. On the General tab, enter a name and description for the new style. Click on the other tabs as needed to view and edit the properties (see Figure 3). When you finish specifying the properties of the style, click OK. The new style will be listed if you open the Style Manager again while the drawing remains open, but it is not saved until you save the drawing. After you have created a style, you can drag it from the Style Manager onto a tool palette to create a tool.
Figure 3: New style
Sorting Styles in the Style Manager
You can change the way styles are sorted in the Style Manager. By default, the names of open drawings and templates are displayed in the tree view in the left pane. When you expand a drawing in the tree view, the individual styles within the drawing are grouped into three categories: Architectural Objects, Documentation Objects, and Multi-Purpose Objects. If you expand a category, the individual styles are listed alphabetically by style type.
To see the styles available in each drawing for a particular style type, such as door styles, you can sort by style. Styles are then grouped by category and organized by type and then by drawing. The status bar at the bottom of the Style Manager indicates whether the styles are sorted by drawing or by style type.
To switch how styles are sorted in the Style Manager, begin by clicking on the Manage tab, Style & Display panel, Style Manager. By default, styles are sorted by drawing. On the toolbar of the Style Manager, click the Toggle View symbol to sort styles by style type. Alternatively, on the menu bar of the Style Manager, click View menu, Explore, By Style (see Figure 4). If you want to view the styles available in a drawing, expand a category, a style type, and then the drawing. To restore the by-drawing sort order, click the Toggle View symbol again.
Figure 4: Style sorting
Adding Standard Styles from the Style Manager
You can add standard styles to project drawings in the Style Manager. When standards drawings are specified in the project standards configuration, they are displayed in Style Manager when you open a project drawing. Styles can be dragged from the project node to the project drawing node here. To do this, begin by opening the project drawing to which you want to add standard styles. Click the Manage tab, Style & Display panel, Style Manager. The standards drawings specified in the standards configuration are listed under the project node. Expand the node for the project standards drawing containing the style you want to add, and expand subnodes as necessary to locate the style. Now drag the style from the project standards drawing node to the project drawing node in the tree view. The standard style is copied to the project drawing node. Click OK.
It is important to note that for the synchronization of the standard style to work, the style needs to come from a standards drawing that has been selected as a standards drawing for this style type in the configuration setup. For example, if the standards drawing “Wall Styles.dwg” has been configured as the standard for wall styles and the standards drawing “Door Styles.dwg” has been configured as the standards drawing for door styles, you should not copy any wall styles from the “Door Styles.dwg” to the project drawing. Because that drawing has not been defined as the standards drawing for wall styles, the copied styles will display as not standardized in the synchronization.
You can also drag styles from a project standards drawing into a drawing that is not part of the current project. If the drawing is not part of any project, no synchronization will happen to that style in the future. If the drawing is part of a different project, the style will display as not standardized in future synchronizations of that project, unless that project references the same standards drawing from which the style was dragged.
Creating a Tool from the Style Manager
You can create a tool from the Style Manager. To do this, begin by opening the tool palette where you want to create the new tool. Click Manage tab, Style & Display panel, Style Manager. Now select the style from which you want to create a tool. For example, if you want to create a wall tool with the Stud-3.625 GWB-0.625 Each Side (1 Hour) style, expand Wall Styles and select the Stud-3.625 GWB-0.625 Each Side (1 Hour) style. Drag the style to the tool palette. A new tool with the selected style is inserted in the tool palette. Click OK to close the Style Manager. Define additional properties for the tool in the tool palette, if necessary.
Figure 5: New tool in Style Manager
Dragging a Drawing into the Style Manager
You can open a drawing or template in the Style Manager by dragging it from Microsoft Windows Explorer. The drawing or template will be open only within the Style Manager; that is, it will not be open in the AutoCAD Architecture session. You can open the drawing in the software after you exit the Style Manager if you wish. In the Style Manager, sort the styles by drawing. Start Microsoft Windows Explorer. In Windows Explorer, select the drawing or template that you want to open in the Style Manager. Drag the drawing into the tree view in the Style Manager and click OK.
Conclusion
The Style Manager in AutoCAD Architecture is the central location for working with styles. There are endless amounts of styles that can be created in the manager. I encourage you to open the Style Manager and explore all the great possibilities!
