AutoCAD Troubleshooting: Improve Tool Palette Speed

June 20, 2019

AutoCAD Troubleshooting: Improve Tool Palette Speed

Network Tool Palettes are slow or lagging, delay when switching to different tabs. What can I do to speed them up?...

Issue/Problem:

I came across an issue recently where a set of networked Tool Palettes (ATC files) were slow to access. This particular set of tool palettes included multiple tabs, all pathed from the same network location.

The lag/slowdown was apparent on multiple machines and not isolated to a single user. Tool Palettes load and function as intended, however they did not work as fast as users would like. Some palettes include a combination of content including AutoLISP/Macros and Scripts linking to websites, server locations (drive pathing) and other.

Solution:

While searching the Autodesk Knowledge Network I stumbled upon a post that provided what I believe is a very simple solution. Link to the original post - CLICK HERE.

Confirm your current Network Tool Palette pathing under:

Tools - Options - Files - Tool Palette File Locations...

In the screenshot above, you can see the Tool Palette File Locations pathing is to:

T:\cad\general\01\palettes\01_ACAD_path

While reviewing the Network Tool Palette ATC files location (in Windows Explorer) I noticed I was pathing to a folder 'higher' up in the directory tree; when in fact my ATC files are stored in the following folder:

T:\cad\general\01\palettes\01_ACAD_path\Palettes

A simple repathing has sped up the Network Tool Palettes - which I can assume is due to the fact that I am pathing 'directly' to the folder that contains the ATC files and not to the folder above.

Note: AutoCAD will read/access all sub-folders below a pathed location, meaning if you were to path to T:\cad (in this example), AutoCAD will search/include all sub-folders below the pathed route folder.

In the screenshot below, you can see the modified pathing which points directly to the folder which contains the Network Tool Palette ATC files.

Summary:

So far we have seen an improvement in the performance (speed) of this particular set of Network Tool Palettes. I cannot confirm that this is an exact solution but based on what I have read on the forums, and what I witnessed, it's worth a shot - Give it a try and if it works for you, please let me know!!