Help Desk Tips & Tricks

Jack Brick & Curtis Kuipers

Who are we?

Jack Brick (brick)Senior Support AnalystAt Configura since 2015

Curtis Kuipers (kuy·perz)Jr. Senior Support AnalystAt Configura since… later in 2015

Let’s get this Started… Clean Started

Searching is the fastest way to pull up the Clean Start menuONLY use Clean Start in this window (unless directed otherwise)

How do I select… only THAT thing??

Sometimes your 2D view has too many items stackedList select tool! (Ctrl+Right Click)This tool now also highlights the… things that you want to select!

Raising/Lowering Multiple Objects

Certain objects can be raised and lowered with a hidden keyboard shortcut:

Pressing Page Up and Page Down!

Raising/Lowering Multiple Objects

If the height adjustments are too drastic, you can press Page Up/Down along with:

Shift (small changes)Ctrl (smaller changes)Shift+Ctrl (smallest changes)

Bonus! The Home key will lower the selected object to the floor (or its lowest height)

Tagging Individually – Click and Drag Edition

Tag individually is a powerful tool when Part TaggingThere’s a fairly new trick up its sleeve; you can click and drag to tag multiple items at a time!There’s also a semi-hidden feature to clicking and dragging that’ll help you tag with more finesse…

Tagging Individually – Click and Drag Edition CONTINUED

Dragging Bottom-to-TopIncludes only fully surrounded objects!

Dragging Top-to-BottomIncludes everything more thanhalf selected!

This also works for Rectangle Select

Tagging Individually – Click and Drag Edition CONTINUED PT. DEUX

You can also REMOVE individual part tagging with this toolEnable “Remove” by pressing Spacebar or clicking in the upper left

Referencing the Task Manager

If CET is Not Responding, there may still be hope!Open the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) to open Task ManagerCET may still be working on your last command. If CPU % is any number over 0, that means it’s still working

CAD Dimensions – check ‘em!

Make sure your CAD isn’t roughly the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined… or largerThere is a legend shown below Dimensions:

Mountain = DEFINITELY reduce this CAD sizeVillage = still on the large side, probably reduceHouse = you’re probably importing a floorplanDoor = importing a CAD symbol, perhaps?Doorknob = maybe a CAD accessoryKeyhole = check that your units match

CAD Dimensions – check ‘em!

This occurs when the actual contents of your CAD file are too far from the origin (0,0,0) point in AutoCAD.This needs to be fixed in AutoCAD by either moving everything in the .dwg to the origin point, or by copying everything and pasting it into a brand new .dwg

Other handy CAD commands

Imported CAD files can be tricky. To run into the least issues, make sure to run these commands on your .dwg before importing:

Explode (best done 3x)BurstPurgeAuditFlatten

As another option, you can import a PDF of your floorplan

Add cinnamon to your coffee grounds

Who said they have to be CET tips? Cinnamon contains antioxidantsCinnamon can reduce triglycerides and help stabilize blood sugarAdding cinnamon smooths out the flavor and is healthier than sugar/cream

Custom SIF!

If you need to remap which Part Tags end up in which SIF columns, you can do so by exporting to the format Custom SIFCustom SIF’s Settings allow you to select which SIF code your Columns pertain to

Cutting Holes in Custom Shapes

1. Draw a Custom Shape within another Custom Shape2. Select the larger, “outer” custom shape3. Press the Create Holes <--> button

Save, Save, SAVE

If you haven’t yet, take some time to review the settings inFile > Control Panel, on the Security tabSecurity = “peace of mind” settingsAuto-saves default to 2, every 9 minutesIncrease Auto-saves more importantlyEnable File Mirroring to save locally

Keep the path short!!

Mysterious Missing Dialogs

Have you ever clicked on a button to open a dialog like Tools > Alternatives or Blocks, but nothing showed up?Try Gathering the Open Dialogs!

You can access this either in the Views dropdown or, my favorite…Press Alt+G

One exception to this is SketchUp WarehouseSketchUp is in a separate window entirelyShift + Right Click on the taskbar icon, MaximizeOtherwise, right click on the

Where did my tabs go?

If you’re not able to find a tab along the left, there’s a possibility some of your tab groups are collapsedIn order to resolve this, right click on a tab and select either Maximize or Expand

Where did this part come from?

Right Click on a symbol and select Locate Component TabIf the object is visible in your current tab configurations, you’ll be switched to that tab and an indicator will blink

Faster View Settings in Article Views

Need to make a quick change to your Calculation view? You can right click your column headers for a variety of useful settings! Switch your View Settings on the fly!

Removing 3D Clipping

Right click on a photo’s thumbnail in order to Remove all 3D clippingthat’s been applied to this photo

Copying Photo Settings

If you Right Click in the margins ofphoto settings, you can Copy themNow you can Paste them to otherphotosYou can copy all settings (and theview) by simply creating aNew Photo from an existing photo

Overlaying Viewports

Do you ever want only some of your objects to be in color?Using a Black & White viewport and a filtered standard viewport, you can make this happen

+ =

Changing Catalogues Data location

Running low on hard drive space? You might benefit from moving your catalogues data!File > Control Panel > CataloguesIf possible, use another hard driveon your computer

Report EVERYTHING (Within Reason, of Course)

A potential thought that could cross your mind is “I found a workaround, I won’t bother support about this”Chances are someone else might need this workaround/fix, and it could be something simple that we fix permanently if you report the issueYou’re not bothering us; we enjoy helping out and solving issues!

Use our wonderful CET Designer Forum!

We have a forum dedicated to sharing/spreading information about CET Designer tools/functionality, and we’d love for you to use it!As of now we have topics ranging from Photo Lab, to Categorization, to Material Lab tricksPlease refrain from extension-specific questions here; those need to go through the proper channels!

Questions? Fun comments?Concerns? Thoughts? Observations? Acknowledgements? Salutations? Outbursts? Slam poetry? Beat boxing? Random words? Interpretive dance?