Setting Custom Paths for Missing Configuration Files in P4A

Akhilesh Trivedi

In the Substation Design Suite Physical for AutoCAD software, when we talk about a drawing being “P4A-enabled,” we mean it has configuration items embedded in it, whether it’s a .DWG or .DWT. When using the New command in AutoCAD, AutoCAD will always ask you what template to use as a base for your new drawing file. The key point here is that using a P4A-enabled template (.DWT) will yield or create a P4A-enabled drawing file (.DWG). This is extremely important.

The P4A-enabled template is a .DWT format (AutoCAD), but with the Map 3D embedded database. Because the data is embedded, the file is often all that is needed to troubleshoot.

If you encounter a dialog box noting that the configuration files are missing when opening a P4A-enabled drawing, selecting the Specify the folder where these files are located option will open the Automated Utility Design Options dialog box for you to correct or revise the pathing. Sometimes you can get these dialog boxes because of your folder structure or where your colleagues have been saving their work. You might even see the dialog box come up four times – once for each of the core P4A support file folders (Blocks, Style, Annotations, and Material). Most of the time though, correcting the template path for one folder will correct the rest.

How to Set Up File Paths:

  1. In the Configuration tab>Setup panel, select AUD Options.

2. In the Automated Utility Design Options dialog box, expand the Supporting File Locations section and select Template.

3. Set Custom Path to the correct template for your drawing.

4. For the other folders (Annotations, Blocks, Material, and Style), set the Root Path Type to Relative....

To learn more about setting up the custom path for missing configuration files, sign up for our training class, Physical for AutoCAD.

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