Associating Plan, Layout, and Library Files with the Latest Version of Chief Architect or Home Designer

The information in this article applies to:

QUESTION

When I double-click on a .plan, .layout, .calib or .calibz file, the version of the Chief Architect software program that launches is not the version that I want to use.

How can I change this file association so that the version of Chief Architect I want will open when I double-click on these file types?

ANSWER

If you have just installed a new version of Chief Architect or Home Designer, you may receive this message upon launching the software for the first time:

• "#272032465 - Do you want to associate plan, layout, and library files with this program? You can always set this later in Preferences."

Select Yes to associate plan, layout, and library files with this version of the program, or choose No if you want plan, layout, and library files to be associated with the program version you last chose. 

If you're not receiving this prompt and files aren't opening correctly in the program version you would like to use, please follow the steps listed in this article.

To associate files with the latest version

1. Open the program version you'd like to associate these files to, and navigate to Edit> Preferences if you're on a Windows PC or Chief Architect/Home Designer> Preferences if you're on a Mac.
   
   
   
2. On the File Management panel of the Preferences dialog that displays:
   
   
   
   
   • Select the Associate Files With This Program button.
     
     
     Note: If this option is grayed out, plan, layout, and library files are already associated with this program version and nothing else needs to be done. 
     
     
   • If you're prompted with a window asking if you'd like to allow Chief Architect/Home Designer to make this change, choose Yes.
     
     
   • An Information dialog may appear stating: "Successfully associated file extensions with this program."
     
     
   • Click OK and OK to close the dialogs.