Problem saving a symbol

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alchemist
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Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:34 pm

Problem saving a symbol

Post by alchemist »

It would appear that I have lost the ability to save drawings as symbols. I typically insert pictures of moulding details in my drawings and trace their outlines so I can save and later insert them in other drawings. However, when I select that "tracing" and follow the steps to save as a new symbol, I hear a sort of "gonk" sound upon hitting the return key. Needless to say, it does not save.

It really is strange because I have managed to save symbols in the past, but no longer can for some reason.

Your thoughts on his dilemma are most appreciated. Thanks much.

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alexwhite
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Re: Problem saving a symbol

Post by alexwhite »

Sounds like the ilexsoft highdesign *.plist is corrupt for some reason. It happens every once in a while.

Close the app, go into your home folder ~/Library/Application Support/ilexsoft/HighDesign folder and trash the most recent com.ilexsoft.highdesign18.plist "18" is in my plist name because of the version I'm running. Yours might be a different version.

Restart HD a see if that works.
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alchemist
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:34 pm

Re: Problem saving a symbol

Post by alchemist »

Thank you for the courteous reply, alexwhite. Unfortunately, no luck, however. I still get that familiar "gonk" sound and it will not save.

Any other thoughts? Thanks very much.

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Andrew
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Re: Problem saving a symbol

Post by Andrew »

Is it possible that the destination disk or folder is locked, not writable, or not accessible with your user privileges?

alchemist
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Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:34 pm

Re: Problem saving a symbol

Post by alchemist »

Good question, Andrew. I don't how to answer that though. Is there a way to tell if any of these issues could be the culprit?

Thank you in advance.

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Andrew
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Re: Problem saving a symbol

Post by Andrew »

alchemist wrote:I don't how to answer that though. Is there a way to tell if any of these issues could be the culprit?
When you choose File > Save Special > New Symbol, what folder do you try to save into? It is possible that the selected folder is not writable because:

a) it was locked in the Finder. Use the Get Info command under the File menu in the Finder to check that the 'Locked' checkbox is unselected.

b) it is located outside your Home folder, i.e. it belongs to the System.

c) it is located on a non-writable disk, like a disk image or a removable device that has different access privileges. Sorry if this may seem a trivial question, but it has happened in the past: did you copy the HighDesign folder from its disk image to your disk's Applications folder? A user once copied the whole disk image to 'Applications' and mounted that disk every time he launched HighDesign.

alchemist
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:34 pm

Re: Problem saving a symbol

Post by alchemist »

Thank you again for the reply, Andrew.

When I choose File > Save Special > New Symbol, two file choices appear: HighDesign Library and one I've created called Custom Library. Though I've tried saving the new symbol unsuccessfully in both files I typically choose Custom Library. Within a step or two I hear the "gonk" and that's where the process ends.

Following your advice, I did take a look at both of these folders as well as the "master" Symbol Library folder through the Get Info command. While none were locked, the "Shared" checkbox was unselected. So for good measure, I selected the "Shared Folder" checkbox. I also changed the Sharing and Permissions on all three folders from Read Only to Read & Write. I restarted HD various times during this process, but was not able to save a new symbol. I tried to create a new folder within the Symbol Library folder, but was unable to do so. While I did not receive an error message per se, the New Folder window noted "This location is read-only." And this was after I had changed the permissions on all of the folders. Perhaps the problem lies in this area?

I didn't quite understand what you meant about "it" being outside of the home folder, but I dragged the entire application from my Applications folder to my Home folder. I then started the application from this location, but again had the typical failure.

And as for your final thought (and, no, nothing is trivial to me - I appreciate any and all thoughts on this very frustrating matter), HD is properly installed within my Applications folder.

I'm not overly savvy with this sort of thing, but I can't help but think that something became "locked" or unrecognizable at some level when I recently added HD to the new machine. The symbol folders are not locked, and it wouldn't appear that they do not belong to the system (but I'm not 100% sure about that), but there's obviously something just a bit off.

I hope you'll continue to work with me through this issue and bear with me in the process. While I can always go back into previous files and copy and paste symbols out of them, it's really not practical - particularly when I have to remember which project used which symbol. Your continued assistance - indeed, anybody's assistance - is greatly appreciated. Thanks much.

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