Getting Started

Open an ArchiCAD XML file using Ctrl+O or the Open XML button. The app auto-detects the file type and switches to the matching tab — Attributes, Pens, Project Info, Properties or Classifications.

Layer Filter and Layouts work differently: Layer Filter visualises whatever attribute file is already loaded, and Layouts is a planning tool that needs no file at all.

Launched from ArchiCAD through the Tapir add-on, you can also edit the open project directly — see Editing ArchiCAD Live below.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Find & Replace

Press Ctrl+Shift+F to open the Find & Replace bar. Search element names in the current view. Matching rows are highlighted in the table. Use the arrow buttons or Enter / Shift+Enter to navigate between matches. Replace individual matches or all at once. Toggle Match case for case-sensitive search. Press Esc to close.

Attributes Tab

• Click a row to select it and show its properties in the editor panel
• Shift+Click to select a contiguous range of rows
• Ctrl+Click to toggle individual rows in/out of the selection
• Double-click a name cell to rename the element inline
• Drag & Drop selected rows to reorder them (indices are reassigned automatically)
• Right-click for Insert, Reposition, Prefix Rename, Duplicate, Delete

Properties Tab

• Sidebar shows Property Groups — click to view properties in that group
• Click a property row to edit its details in the panel below
• Editor panel lets you edit name, description, value type, enumerations, and classifications
• + Property adds a new property to the current group
• + Group creates a new property definition group
• Right-click a property for Delete or a group in the sidebar for Rename/Delete

Project Info Tab

• Sidebar shows categories — Project, Site, Building, Contact, Client, CAD Technician, Custom, etc.
• Click an entry row to edit its details in the panel below
• Double-click a value cell to edit it inline
• Fixed keys (predefined by ArchiCAD) — only the value can be changed
• Custom keys — field name, DB key, and value are all editable
• + Custom Key adds a new custom entry to the Project Info
• Values showing <####> are autotext placeholders (empty)

Pens Tab

• Sidebar shows Pen Sets (Pen Tables) — click to view pens in that set
• Click a pen row to edit its color, width, and description in the editor panel
• Shift+Click to select a contiguous range of pen rows
• Ctrl+Click to toggle individual pen rows in/out of the selection
• Double-click a color swatch to open the inline color picker popup with hex input
• Double-click a pen name, width, or description to edit it inline
• Width accepts values from 0.00 to 10.00 mm
• Right-click for Prefix Rename, Set Description, and Set Width (supports bulk operations on multi-selected pens)
• Editor panel has a color picker with RGB sliders, hex input, and preview
• Each pen set contains 255 pens with 16-bit RGB colors
• Connected to ArchiCAD, colour, width and description are editable; pen names are XML-only, as ArchiCAD stores only a description

Composite Builder

• Select Composites in the sidebar and click a composite to open the builder
• Add skin layers from available Building Materials in the same XML
• Set thickness (mm), skin type (Core/Finish/Other), and pen for each layer
• Drag rows to reorder skins, or × to remove
• Edit separator lines (SkinFaceLines) between skins — set pen index and line type
• Set Use as flags (Wall, Slab, Roof, Shell) to control which elements can use the composite
• Total thickness is auto-calculated from all skin layers
• Use + Create New Composite to create new empty composites, then add skins
• Works against the open project too when connected to ArchiCAD, staged behind Apply

Classifications Tab

• The Classifications tab activates when a Properties XML is loaded (same file)
• Browse the classification tree with expand/collapse toggles (▶/▼)
• Click an item to edit its ID, Name, and Description in the editor panel
• Double-click an ID, Name, or Description cell to edit inline
• Right-click for Add Child Item, Rename, or Delete
• Use + Item in the toolbar to add top-level classification items
• Changes are saved with the Properties XML — the tree structure is preserved

Pen Color Grid

• In the Pens tab, a 20×13 color swatch grid appears to the right of the table
• Click a swatch to jump to that pen in the list
• Double-click a swatch to open an inline color picker directly on the grid
• Grid cells reflect live pen colors and update when you edit them

Preview Thumbnails

• Lines — SVG previews are auto-generated from the XML dash/dot pattern data
• Fills — bitmap pattern thumbnails are rendered from the fill's binary pixel data
• Previews appear in the PREVIEW column for both attribute types

Layer Filter Tab

• Shows the Layer Combinations × Layers matrix for the loaded attribute file — no separate file needed
• Hover a combination to light up the layers it shows; hidden layers dim and locked ones get an orange dot
• Hover a layer for the reverse view — which combinations it appears in
• Click to pin either direction so it stays put without holding the cursor there
• Layers group by their ArchiCAD attribute folder when the export includes one, falling back to a name-prefix grouping
• Search filters layers and combinations together; Clear resets the filter and any pin
• A file with layers but no combinations still works — you get the grouped layer list without the matrix

Layouts Tab

• A planning tool for View folders and Layout subsets — it needs no XML file
• Start from Blank, load a Template, or Import CSV from a previous session
• + View / + Layout adds an item; + Subset adds a folder to group them
• Drag rows to reorder or re-nest; right-click for rename, indent, delete and per-subset settings
• ID Style per level: none, abc, ABC, 123, 01, 001, 0001, with an optional prefix
• A subset can override the defaults or inherit them from its parent
• Auto-assign All numbers everything; Auto-assign Selected Subset limits it to one branch
• Export Both CSV writes views and layouts; Export for ArchiCAD writes the archiViewFilter format

Editing ArchiCAD Live

Run archixml.py from the Tapir add-on's script palette with a project open. A source chip appears in the toolbar; click it to edit the open project instead of a file, and click again to go back. Switching never discards the loaded file.

• Everything is staged. Nothing reaches ArchiCAD until you press Apply, which lists every change first
• Discard drops the staged edits; Undo applied changes puts ArchiCAD back to how it was when the page loaded
• ArchiCAD has no undo for attribute changes — that is why edits are staged, and why a copy of the original is written to ~/.archixml/snapshots on connect
• Editable live: attribute rename, create and delete, the layer combination matrix, composite skins, pen colour/width/description, and project info values and custom fields
• The Layouts tab gains Import from ArchiCAD and Apply to ArchiCAD, which build real subsets and layouts

Not available live, because ArchiCAD assigns attribute indices itself and ignores any index sent to it: changing an index, inserting at an index, repositioning, re-indexing, and drag-to-reorder. Those stay XML-only — edit the file and re-import through Attribute Manager. Pen names and project-info field renames are XML-only for a similar reason: ArchiCAD offers no command for them.

Layer Filter — Live Editing

• Tick Edit, then click a combination to pin it — a cell is a (combination, layer) pair, so one has to be in scope
• Each layer gains three toggles — visible, locked, wireframe — for the pinned combination only
• Show all / Hide all / Lock all / Unlock all apply to every layer in that combination at once
• A layer that is not part of the pinned combination says so rather than offering a toggle — adding it is a larger change than a checkbox implies
• Changes are staged like everything else; Apply shows a per-cell diff before writing

Interface

• The sun / moon button toggles light and dark mode; your choice is remembered
• ☰ collapses the sidebar when space is tight
• The toolbar wraps onto more rows in a narrow window rather than hiding buttons — useful docked in an ArchiCAD palette
• The status bar names the loaded file or connected project, and warns about duplicate indices as you edit

Translation

• Use the Translate dropdown in the toolbar to translate element names to 30+ languages
• Powered by Google Cloud Translation API — requires your own API key
• Click the gear icon next to the dropdown to configure your API key
• Works across all modes: Attributes, Properties, Project Info (values), and Pens
• Double-click a translated cell to manually edit individual translations
• When saving, choose Save Translated (replaces names) or Save Original
• API key is stored locally in your browser — never sent anywhere except Google's API

Resizable Panels

• Drag the divider line between the table and editor panel to resize them vertically
• Drag the right edge of any column header to resize column widths
• Both work across all table modes

Cross-References (Attributes)

When editing Layers, the editor panel shows which Layer Combinations reference the selected layer. All index changes automatically update Layer Combination cross-references to maintain data integrity.

Protected Elements

The ArchiCAD Layer (Index 1) is protected and cannot be deleted, hidden, or locked. It appears with a highlighted index and a "(protected)" label.