4D Library Folder Location Tips

Where do you place the 4D Library?

The 4D Library always needed to be placed in a writeable folder for registration purposes. But recent advancements mean that the library should be permanently placed in a writeable folder. This makes it easier for registrations later on and enables new features to work seamlessly. : Note that ANY folder can be made writeable (Instructions below).

By default these areas are 'writeable' and suitable for Library positioning.

1. The Desktop
2. The Documents folder
3. Any 'User' folder
4. A BIM server folder when uploading the library to the BIM Cloud

What positions are NOT writeable by default ?

1. Directly in the C drive or 'Macintosh HD'
2. Directly in the ArchiCAD Library folder or Graphisoft folder
3. Potentially on a shared drive. IT have to setup permissions for the shared drive as per below.

For PC folder permissions

When you place the 4D Library directly in the C drive or Program Files.. you may not have permissions to read and write to this folder. This is easy to fix

• Right Click on your 4D Library and select properties
• Select the user name then click 'Edit' (This is a bit hard to see in my screen shot!)
• Then Select users and check 'Full Control' and 'Modify
• You may then be asked to 'Apply changes to this folder, subfolder and files' .. if so. click OK.

We have had a report of the unzipped PC library not having permissions set correctly and it becomes impossible to fix.

If this is the case, it appears that sometimes on PC, the .zip file will need this security tick box checked. This MUST be done before unzipping.

For Mac folder permissions

When you place the 4D Library directly in the Macintosh HD or Applications folder you may not have permissions to read and write to this folder. This is easy to fix

• Right Click on your 4D Library folder and select 'Get Info'
• Click the 'Padlock' and enter your password to change permissions
• Select all the users listed and change to  "Read & Write"
• Then apply to all the ""Enclosed Items" of the library, by clicking on the 3 little dots next to the "+-" buttons..