A very useful time-saving and management feature in ArchiCAD is 'Favourites'.
It allows you to save the settings of any tool that you use regularly, so that you can recall those settings with a mouse-click without having to spend the time to fill in the settings over-and-over again.

Most people assume this is useful for objects (which is true), but in my own opinion Favourites can be best served in creating an office-specific setup for documentation (such as office specific Dimension settings, Section/Elevation settings, Text settings etc).

Two important thing to note:

• Favourites are NOT objects, they are just saved settings of tools.
• It would be wise to have your office-specific ArchiCAD template setup first (including Layers, Pensets, Libraries, Materials, Master Layouts etc) before considering Favourites.

Favourites can be accessed from two locations:

• The Favourites Palette that stores all saved favorite settings regardless of the tool that created them - The palette is hidden by default; goto the pulldown menu Window > Palettes > Favorites to display it. It remains visible on top of the other areas.

• The Favourites button in the top left corner of all tool Settings dialog boxes - The dialog box that opens will list the favorite settings saved for that tool only.

By default, new favorites are only saved in the Project file they are created in.
You can save a Favourites file to help transfer Favourites from one project to other projects.

How to save a Favourite for any element:

1. Open the appropriate tool settings dialog
2. Set up the tool exactly as you want
3. Click on the 'Favourites' button at the top-left of the dialog
4. Click on the 'Save Current settings as Favourite' button
5. Give an appropriate name to the Favourite

How to recall a Favourite for any element:
Either:

• Open the appropriate tool settings dialog
• Click on the Favourites button at the top-left of the dialog
• Click on any existing favourite
• Click 'Apply' at the bottom of the dialog

Or (the quicker method)

1. Single-click on any tool
2. Goto the Favorites Palette - it will show any favourites available for that specific tool
3. Double-click on any Favourite entry to recall the favourite settings

• If no element is selected: when you choose a Favourite, only the tool settings will be applied to elements placed in the future.
• If elements are selected: when you choose a Favourite, those objects will be switched to the Favourite settings

To transfer Favourites from one project to another:

1. Open the project with the Favourites (e.g. Project A)
2. Click on the Arrow/Select tool – this will then show all Favourites in the Favourites palette
3. At the top-right of the Favourites palette, click on the black triangle
4. Choose 'Save Favourites'

5. You will be prompted for a filename, save the file to your desktop
6. Close this project
7. Open the project without the Favourites (e.g. Project 'B')
8. At the top of the Favourites palette, click on the black triangle
9. Choose 'Load Favourites'

10. You will browse for a file, choose the file to your desktop
11. You will be asked to 'Merge' or 'Replace' – choose 'Replace'
12. All the Favourites from Project A will now be available in Project 'B'.
13. You can then delete the Favourites file from your desktop as it is no longer needed.

You would use this method to merge Favourites from existing projects into your template file.
If the Favourites are stored in your template file, then every new project you start will already have the Favourites defined, thus saving you lots of time throughout the course of the project.