Does Xara Designer have to download arrowheads every time?!

[Daniel]

I use Xara Designer Pro v11 on my two PCs: one is a very fast desktop PC with bags of memory, an SSD, and connected to an 80 Mbps download internet connection. The second is a modest little X220 Thinkpad and often connected only via mobile 3G broadband or on clients' slow office connections.

In Designer Pro, if I draw a line, click the Line gallery button on the right of the screen, then double click on Arrow heads, on my desktop the status bar whizzes around very quickly for 3-4 seconds before the arrowheads appear. On my laptop, the status bar whizzes around a lot less quickly and it can take 10-12 seconds before the arrowheads appear.

I've never used anything but stroke shapes, dash patterns or arrowheads from the Line gallery, nor downloaded any of the brushes or clipart from any online services within Xara Designer. I'm basically using it, so far as that panel is concerned, exactly how it used to work 10 years ago. It used to open instantaneously, but now with the new software, faster PCs, and much much faster internet connections, it takes longer.

Can I either force Xara Designer to download (and store offline) whatever it is doing, tell it to stop whatever it is doing, or somehow speed it up? Waiting 4 seconds to be able to get an arrowhead is annoying, but waiting 10+ seconds is crazy!

[handrawn]

what I think you may be seeing is the loading of the default brushes

this used to happen as the program started, but now it happens when you first access a line gallery folder in a session

you can remove the default brushes if you do not use them

[gwpriester]

Xara chose this to speed up the initial opening of the program which when the brushes were first introduced was way too long.

So, Xara holds off loading the brushes until you select anything from the Line Gallery.

[Daniel]

Thanks folks - good to know that it might be possible to speed it up.

you can remove the default brushes if you do not use them

Is there a way to do that? I've right clicked on the folders of brushes, and on the brush entries themselves, but don't see anything that sounds like "Delete"

[MarcT]

Xara chose this to speed up the initial opening of the program which when the brushes were first introduced was way too long.

So, Xara holds off loading the brushes until you select anything from the Line Gallery.

One thing that I find weird, when clicking the dashed lines folder, the folders jumps wildly about four times and deselect the objects.

It only does it the first time in the session, but still...

[handrawn]

Is there a way to do that?

it's not possible to do this from within the program - and it's probably not a good idea to actually delete them as there is no way of getting them back short of a restore/repair

what I suggest you do is find the folder 'Brushes' which at this path [assuming 64bit xara designer pro 11]:

C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X11\Templates\ENG\Brushes

and rename it; eg:

C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X11\Templates\ENG\SAVBrushes

so that xara will no longer find it

you then still have them if you want to revert

note: if you just want a few brushes say, you can always make a new folder 'Brushes' and copy those brushes from the 'SAVBrushes' folder

[Daniel]

rename it; eg: C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X11\Templates\ENG\SAVBrushes

so that xara will no longer find it

Spectacular, thank you very much. Works perfectly, and the arrowhead panel opens immediately again!

[handrawn]

pleasure

[handrawn]

One thing that I find weird, when clicking the dashed lines folder, the folders jumps wildly about four times and deselect the objects.

It only does it the first time in the session, but still...

not noticed the folder moving - deselecting lines, yes...