User Palette panel

Last updated: 2024-01-29


Info: There is a User Palettes panel on every WisDOT ribbon tab. The User Palettes panel is furthest to the right.

Overview

My Palette is a personal tool palette group in the WisDOT Civil 3D configuration to store, organize, and customize your favorite commands and content as palette tools.

Using My Palette

Ribbon > WisDOT [***] tab > User Palettes panel > My Palette

My Palette can also be accessed from the command line: =Wis-User.

Info: There is a User Palettes panel on every WisDOT ribbon tab. My Palette is the button farthest to the right.

Creating / Renaming / Deleting a Palette

Creating a New Palette

Right-click a palette tab > New Palette

Renaming a Palette

Right-click a palette tab > Rename Palette

Deleting a Palette

Right-click a palette tab > Delete Palette

Warning: Deleting a palette is permanent.

Adding Items to My Palette

Copying Existing Content From Another Palette

  1. Right-click an item from an existing palette and select Copy.
  2. Right-click a blank area on My Palette and select Paste.
  3. The item will be placed at the bottom of the palette tool list.
  4. Left-click select and drag the item to the desired location in the palette tool list.

wisdot-mypaltt-01.mp4 0:20

Adding Commands

  1. Right-click on an empty area of My Palette > Customize Commands... The Customize User Interface dialog will open to a Command List.
  2. Select and drag a command onto the palette.

  3. After the command has been added to the palette, Right-click command > Properties... to see available customizations.

Adding Components

Tip: It is best practice to add components to My Palette from user component drawing files and not from project drawing files or the WisDOT standards files. Project drawing files may be moved or deleted over the life of the project. WisDOT standards files may be overwritten during updates and have functionality upgraded or removed over time. These file changes may cause a My Palette tool to have a broken link and stop functioning if the tool was added from a project file or WisDOT standards file. To add components from project files or WisDOT standards files to My Palette, first use the WBLOCK command in the project file or WisDOT standards file to export a component, and save it to C:\WisDOT\Stnd\users\Myc3d20XX\Myblocks or C:\WisDOT\Stnd\users\Myc3d20XX\Myassemblies. User components can be saved and added to palettes from files in those locations and will not be overwritten during updates.

Adding Blocks

  1. Open the drawing file containing the block you wish to add to the palette.
  2. Insert the block into model space if it is not already there.
  3. Left-click select the block and then release the mouse button.
  4. Hover the mouse cursor over a selectable portion of the block and Left-click select and drag the block onto the palette.
  5. After the command has been added to the palette, Right-click the command and select Properties... to see available customizations.

Adding Assemblies

  1. Open the drawing file containing the assembly you wish to add to the palette.
  2. Left-click select the assembly baseline marker and then release the mouse button.
  3. Hover the mouse cursor over the assembly baseline marker and Left-click select and drag the assembly onto the palette.

Tip:
Updating added assemblies

When an assembly is added to a palette, a new dwg of the assembly is created in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\C3D 20XX\enu\Assemblies. This means that the dwg used to add the assembly to the palette is no longer the Source dwg. If future edits to the assembly need to be made, there are three options to make sure the edits are reflected in the assembly on the palette.

  1. Make changes to the assembly in the assembly dwg created in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\C3D 20XX\enu\Assemblies.
  2. Delete the current assembly on the palette, then add the assembly from your Source dwg again. This will update the dwg used in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\C3D 20XX\enu\Assemblies.
  3. With Civil 3D closed, in C:\WisDOT\Stnd\users\Myc3d20XX\Mypalettes\Palettes edit the .atc extension file so the path of the assembly points to the Source dwg that was originally used to add assembly to palette.

Organizing and Sorting Palette Tools

Text labels and line separators can be added to a palette from the right-click menu to help organize palette tools. Items can be dragged up or down in the list to sort.

Backing Up or Migrating My Palette Content

Warning: Contents of My Palette are not automatically managed. Users are responsible for maintaining and backing up their own files.

  1. Palettes and supporting files are saved in C:\WisDOT\Stnd\users\. Each Civil 3D version has a separate folder.
  2. Create a Windows batch file to back up or export this data. Use a text editor (Notepad, Notepad++, etc.) to create a new file. Save as BackupMyPalettes.bat
  3. Copy/paste the following code into the file. Modify destination folder if needed.

    rem back up my palette data

    robocopy "C:\WisDOT\Stnd\users" "U:\WisDOT\Stnd\users" /mir /dst

  4. Make sure Civil 3D is closed before running this batch file.
  5. Double-click BackupMyPalettes.bat in Windows Explorer to run.

Info: Some My Palette content might be able to be migrated forward from an older version of Civil 3D to a newer version of Civil 3D. Contact support.cae@dot.wi.gov for assistance.