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1. Before numbering, always invert the drawing list to show a blank drawing list. Now after numbering, all affected objects are displayed in the drawing list with their related flag, e.g. n, N, P. Create a snapshot of the drawing list and print, ensuring a good record of tracking changes and revisions.
2. For customers under support/maintenance, when displayed with the warning: “Your Tekla Structures password file expires at the end of this month,” you must contact the technical support department at teklastructures.support.can@dowco.com to request an up to date password.
3. To switch back to the standard black drawing background, set the following environment variable...set XS_BLACK_DRAWING_BACKGROUND=TRUE
4. To switch the model background from black to white, set the following environment variable...set S_BACKGROUND_COLOR=1.0 1.0 1.0
5. In order to detail a model in metric dimensions while still using imperial profiles, copy the imperial profdb.bin & matdb.bin into the model folder. Launch Tekla Structures in the metric environment. The profiles have a metric equivalent name in the user attributes of the profile catalog, text field PROFILE.METRIC_EQ_NAME
6. Any changes to the drawing toolbars that you wish to keep upon restarting must be set in the model, not the drawing. To make the Drawings: Dimension toolbar visible; while in the model, select Window, Toolbars, Customize...select the Drawings: Dimension toolbar and set to visible. You should receive the message; Toolbar contains commands that are to be used in drawing editor. Toolbar can be shown only in drawing editor.
7. The only way to restore a model to a previous version is by performing a model dump. See the help files titled “Exporting a model dump” and “Model dump import”. Before importing the model dump, edit the model.dmp files version number on the first line of the script. i.e Xsteel 6.30 dump. The 6.30 corresponds to version 9.1. If you want to import this model.dmp file into version 8.1, edit the first line to read Xsteel 6.18 dump. The 6.18 corresponds to version 8.1.
8. To save desired view properties settings for use when creating views.
9. For Part basic view, save as: Part_basic_view
   For Part basic views, save as: Part_front _view, Part_end_view,
   Part_top_view, Part_persp_view
   For Component basic view, save as:
   Connection_basic_view
   For Component basic views, save as:
   Connection_front _view,
   Connection_end_view,
   Connection_top_view,
   Connection_persp_view Copy .mvi files from model attributes folder to system folder to make the view settings global.
10. When working in the Template editor, turn on all four options: Automatic redraw, Continuous action, Partial window picking and Multiple picking found under the pull down menu Options. These options will enable much more ease when selecting objects in the template editor.
11. To keep temporary reference measurements (dimensions) in the model, create the measurement using a rendered view type not a wireframe view type. These temporary dimensions will disappear after redrawing the view.
12. To perform a connection design check, simply set the Check Connection to Yes under the tab US Design in the connection properties. Apply this to your connection or modify a current connection and two connection design check reports will be created and placed into the model folder. The reports are created in two formats, plain text (.txt) and graphic HTML (.htm). Note that connection design check reports are only available on the most commonly used connections.
13. To turn on the Dowco connections in Tekla Structures, select the pull down menu Window, Toolbars, and choose All components (connections in previous versions) checked on.
14. When using any connection, refer to the help file for that connection. In most cases, the help file will provide information on what the connection does, steps to apply it, situations it can be used in and what all the individual settings do.
15. The rules for numbering a Multi-User model are, first have everyone save to the model, then the person who will perform the numbering saves last to get the most up-to-date model also known as the master model. They then perform a numbering and then re-save the database. All other users now re-load the good copy of the database. It is also good practice to perform a check database before each numbering to ensure there are no errors. If there are, correct database.
16. In the model, avoid using the colors red and yellow. Tekla Structures uses these colors when assembly checks and clash checks are implemented.