Opening PlotMaker directly from within ArchiCAD

TechTip of the Month Contest Winner of April, 2003:

Alex Schamenek's tip on opening PlotMaker directly from within ArchiCAD.

"
> Is there a way to open Plotmaker directly from within ArchiCAD?
> Is there any way to make a button in an ArchiCAD toolbar that
> would open the Plotmaker program?

I don't think you can create a button, but you can put a shortcut to it in
the Help pulldown. It has to be in your WWW folder to work. Here's how to do it (on Windows)."

First of all, quit ArchiCAD, then follow these steps:

1. In your ArchiCAD folder there should be a WWWLinks folder. (If you don't have such a folder, then make one).
2. Find Plotmaker.exe in the ArchiCAD folder and copy the path (Right-click on PlotMaker.exe, click on Properties... then highlight the path like you would highlight text in Notepad or in MS Word and push Ctrl+C (Copy to the Clipboard). (See screenshot below)

   

   It should be something like: C:\Program Files\ArchiCAD 8
3. Now open the WWWLinks folder in your ArchiCAD folder, and create a copy of one of the Internet Shortcuts that are there. (Right-click on one of the existing links and choose Copy, then right click into the folder and click on Paste.)
4. Right-click on this new shortcut, and choose Properties..., and rename it e.g. "PlotMaker 3" on the General tabpage.
5. On the Web Document Tabpage, paste the previously copied path into the URL: field and if needed, add "\PlotMaker.exe" to its end (See screenshot below)

   

6. Click on Apply then on OK to close this dialog. A new WWW shortcut has been created in the folder that points to the PlotMaker Application.
7. If you rename the Shortcut to "!PlotMaker 3", it should be listed at the top of the list when opening the ArchiCAD Help Menu. (Note: it wasn't listed on the top for Windows 2000 version we used)
8. Now if you start ArchiCAD and open the Help Pulldown Menu, you will find !PlotMaker 3 - by choosing it PlotMaker will be started instantaneously. (See screenshot below)

   

This is also very useful for creating shortcuts to project directories, object libraries, a dd on folders, and any other folder or program you want to be able to open quickly within ArchiCAD. For example having a shortcut for each of your project directories in the WWWLinks folder makes it a lot easier to find PMKs, Project library parts, PDFs, images, etc.

HINT: you can also combine this tip with one of Alex's previous tips to have keyboard shortcuts in the Help menu?
In the shortcut filename in the WWWLinks folder, precede the letter you want underlined with the ampersand sign "&". So if you want the "P" in Plotmaker to be underlined, you'll name the filename
"!&Plotmaker".

This way you can press Alt+H (to open the Help Pulldown menu in ArchiCAD) then just P to start Plotmaker.

Page last updated: Thursday, June 10, 2004