Remembering default settings with XP4

**PatentGuy** · 10 April 2008, 05:20 PM

When I draw, I like certain attributes to have a specific value as a default. My default template has those attributes set, for example, line width, shapes have no fill, and font size.

For a new file, the attributes of the template are used in the drawing. But, after closing the drawing file and reopening it, the attributes are reset to XP4 default values, which are different than my defaults. Out of the Box, XP4 always opens a file and sets attributes to their default values. XXP 3 did the same thing. see <http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=28359>.

A "secret" registry entry will allow XP4 to remember certain set attributes when drawings are reopened. The following registry entry has a default value of 0. Changing the value to 1 will make XP4 remember set attributes when reopening a drawing file.
<HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Xara\XtremePro\4.0\Opt ions\Filters\LoadCurrentAttributes>

The attached txt file can be run to set XP4 to remember set attributes. After downloading it, change the extension from .txt to .reg

CAUTION: NEVER blindly run a program downloaded from the Internet. Before double-clicking the downloaded file, it is always a good idea to open it with Notepad to verify that it is doing only what is advertised. In this case, a single registry entry is being changed to a data value of 1 (default is 0).

**carygee** · 10 April 2008, 09:17 PM

This is intriguing but I must be missing some steps ti implement the changes.

How exactly would I, say, change the default template to include a default line width of 2-pix, the fill color to "empty" and the default font to Arial 18?

When would I run the *.reg file?

Thanks

**handrawn** · 10 April 2008, 09:32 PM

the registry fix here is not for templates

it is to enable saved files to re reopened with the settings the same as they were when the file was last saved - instead of the program defaults

**Odat** · 10 April 2008, 09:34 PM

As handrawn notes, you don't need the .REG patch to change your templates (just follow the steps below). What the reg patch does is make it so that every time you open a file, your defaults are in place the way they were when you saved the file. Without the patch, the defaults will be there when you start a new document, but when you save and reload, they'll be gone.

Run the .reg file while Xara is not running. If you do it while it's running, it won't have any effect.

To change the template, open up a new document and then make the changes you want to line width and so on. You may or may not see a warning box telling you "No objects are currently selected. Do you wish to make the BLAH a current graphic attribute?" (where BLAH is whatever you just changed, like line width). If you see it, click the "Set" button. If you don't see it, it's just turned off, no big deal. (If you select the "Quiet" button, it'll set it and then stop asking you if you're sure).

Once everything is set up the way you want, do File->Save Template. Make sure that you check the box that says "Use as default template" so that the template that you save will be the one used when you do FIle->New.

You probably want to save the template with a name different than anything in there, so that you can fall back to the built in template if you need to.