Work Environment Tutorial

Introduction

Managing work environments effectively is crucial for maintaining consistency across your design projects and ensuring seamless collaboration with team members. A work environment contains all your customized settings including display configurations, icon layouts, toolbar arrangements, tenant settings, process settings, and any other program-specific configurations you've saved.

This tutorial will guide you through the complete process of managing work environments, from understanding what they contain to sharing individual settings with colleagues. Whether you're looking to standardize settings across a team or simply want to backup your carefully configured workspace, this guide provides the essential steps for effective work environment management.

Understanding Work Environments

Work environments encompass two main categories of settings:

• T Settings: Toolbars and dialogue box values that you've worked on or saved

• S Settings: Properties and saved settings configurations

These environments also include specialized settings for floor plans, wall design, flow areas, roof calculations, drawing templates, profile templates, machine settings, and general program configurations.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Accessing Work Environment Settings

1. Navigate to the 3D program

2. Go to menu option 1-3-4 to access work environment management

3. Your work environments are stored in the installation directory (typically folder number 74)

Step 2: Loading a Work Environment

1. Click Load Work Environment from the menu

2. Select the work environment you want to load from the available options

3. The system will display what areas you want to load:

   • Toolbars and dialogue settings

   • Floor plan configurations

   • Wall design settings

   • Flow areas and roof calculations

   • Drawing templates and blocks

   • Profile templates

   • Machine and general settings

4. When prompted, choose Yes to save your current settings as a backup

5. Name your backup with a descriptive title and date

6. Select whether to save everything or specific areas

7. Click Save and wait for the loading process to complete

Step 3: Refined Loading (Selective Import)

1. Go to 1-3-5 Data Transfer for more precise control

2. Browse to your work environment location

3. Navigate to the backup folder (typically in folder 74, English subfolder)

4. Review all available settings categories

5. Use Select All to expand and view all individual settings

6. Choose specific settings to import rather than the entire environment

7. Imported settings will be added to your current configuration without overwriting (unless names match)

Step 4: Sharing Individual Settings

Method 1: Through Dialogue Boxes

1. Open any dialogue box in the program

2. Access the Data Transfer option

3. Select the setting you want to share

4. Choose to share with a project (copies setting to project)

5. Other users can import these settings when they open the project

Method 2: Email Attachments

1. Select multiple settings from your configuration

2. Export them as email attachments

3. Save the packaged settings to your desktop

4. Recipients can import these settings through the data transfer dialogue

Step 5: Managing Work Environments

Creating New Work Environments

1. Access the work environment management area

2. Select Create New Work Environment

3. Choose Temp Directory or Work Environment as your starting point

4. Name your new work environment

5. Transfer desired settings from your current configuration

Moving Between Environments

1. Use the management interface to switch between different work environments

2. Load saved work environments as needed

3. Save current configurations before switching

4. Copy specific settings between different environments

Step 6: Best Practices for Team Sharing

1. Differentiate Between Settings Types: Share only settings (S) rather than toolbar layouts (T) if team members prefer their own icon arrangements

2. Preserve Favorites: The system will maintain existing favorites unless specifically overwritten

3. Use Descriptive Names: When saving backups or sharing settings, use clear, dated naming conventions

4. Regular Backups: Always save current settings before loading new environments

5. Selective Sharing: Consider sharing only specific settings rather than entire work environments when appropriate

Conclusion

Effective work environment management streamlines your workflow and ensures consistency across projects and team members. By understanding the distinction between toolbar settings and configuration settings, you can selectively share the most relevant aspects of your setup without disrupting personal preferences.

The flexibility of this system allows for both comprehensive environment sharing and granular setting transfers, making it easy to maintain standardized workflows while respecting individual workspace preferences. Regular use of backup procedures and thoughtful sharing practices will help maintain organized, efficient work environments across your entire team.

Remember that work environment management is an ongoing process that benefits from regular maintenance and strategic sharing to keep everyone working with optimal, consistent settings.