414 — Exporting a template (.cvt)

A project with the job taken out of it — so the next job can start from your standards instead of from nothing.

Note

This lesson also exists in the browser. Work it in ConstructiVision on the web — same steps, same values, so you can follow either and end up with the same panel.

Where it is

File → Export Template (.cvt).

What it keeps, and what it strips

The dialog tells you exactly, and it is worth reading rather than assuming:

The following fields are stripped: job number, client, engineer, drawing dates, drawn-by initials, and notes. Panel geometry and all design settings are preserved.

That is the whole idea. The shapes and the standards travel; whose job it was does not.

Your panels become archetypes

The dialog counts what it is exporting as panel archetypes, not panels — 60 of them on the sample project.

That word is doing real work. A panel in a project is a thing to be cast on a date for a client. The same panel in a template is a pattern — a shape and its features, waiting for a job to belong to.

What happens on import

When imported, a new project is created with blank job info ready to fill in.

So a template is not merged into what you have open — it starts a new project. That is the difference between this and importing a .cvp, which can bring back a whole project including whose it was.

When to make one

When you have a project whose panel types and settings you will use again. Export it once as a template, and the next job starts from your conventions rather than from defaults — without carrying the last client’s name into it.

What to take away

Geometry and settings travel; job identity does not. Import creates a new project with the job fields blank, ready to fill in.