Troubleshooting Missing Toolbars


Reference Number: KB-00467
Last Modified: January 24, 2024

The information in this article applies to:

Chief Architect Premier or Chief Architect InteriorsHome Designer Professional or Home Designer Architectural or Home Designer Suite



DESCRIPTION

The toolbars in my program have disappeared. How do I make the toolbars visible again?   


CAUSE

There are a number of reasons why your toolbars might not be displaying:

  • The display of toolbars is toggled off.
  • The toolbars have been undocked and then closed.
  • The program cannot find the file saving your currently active toolbar configuration.

If the program cannot find the current toolbar configuration file, you may encounter one or more warning messages when you launch the program, exit out of it, or reset your toolbars, including:

  • "Cannot open custom toolbar configuration file."
  • "Cannot open backup toolbar configuration file."
  • "The toolbar file could not be saved. It might be read only."
  • "No backup file exists. Toolbar will not be reset."
  • If you encounter any of these Warnings, proceed to the instructions for re-populating the program's toolbar folder.


RESOLUTION

Since there are a number of possible causes, there are several different troubleshooting steps to try, including:


To turn on the display of all toolbars

  1. From the menu, select View and verify that the Toolbars option has a check, either in the icon, or directly next to it, depending on the platform you're using.

    Access the Toolbars display toggle from the View menu


  2. If there is not a check, this option is not selected and should be turned on. To turn it on, simply click on it.


  3. If the Toolbars are set to be displayed, but they still do not appear, proceed to the troubleshooting section on resetting the toolbars to their original configuration.


To turn on the display of individual toolbars

  1. Right-click on a blank area to the right of the Help menu option to display a contextual menu.

    Open the contextual menu where individual toolbars can be toggled by right-clicking next to the Help menu option


  2. Under Toolbars, click to select the toolbar that has been toggled off to turn it back on.


  3. A check displays next to toolbars that are enabled.

    The toolbars that display in a given view depend on the view type. For example, the toolbars that are available in floor plan and 3D views are not available in Materials Lists.


  4. If individual toolbars do not appear after toggling them on, proceed to the next troubleshooting section that applies to your product.


To reset the toolbars to the original configuration*

*Applies to Chief Architect Premier, Chief Architect Interiors, Home Designer Professional, and Home Designer Architectural.

  1. Select Tools> Toolbars & Hotkeys> Customize Toolbars  from the menu.

    In Home Designer, navigate to Tools> Toolbars> Customize Toolbars  instead.


  2. Click on the title bar of the Toolbar Customization dialog and drag it to move the dialog box to the center of the drawing area, away from where the toolbars are normally docked.


  3. Access the Toolbar panel, then click the Reset Toolbars button located at the bottom.

    You may receive a warning dialog that states: "If you restore the default toolbars, any custom toolbars that you created will be lost. If you would like to keep the current toolbars, choose Cancel." Click OK to proceed.


  4. Without closing the Toolbar Customization dialog, you should be able to see whether or not your toolbars have been restored.

    If you now see the missing toolbars, click the Close button to close the dialog. If you don't see your toolbars, proceed to the next troubleshooting section that applies to your product.


To import missing toolbar configurations*

*Applies to Chief Architect Premier, Chief Architect Interiors, Home Designer Professional, and Home Designer Architectural.

  1. Select Tools> Toolbars & Hotkeys> Customize Toolbars  from the menu.

    In Home Designer, navigate to Tools> Toolbars> Customize Toolbars  instead.


  2. On the Configurations panel of the Toolbar Customization dialog that opens, you should see the following available configurations: Default, Space Planning*, Terrain**, and Extended***.

    * The Space Planning configuration is only available in Chief Architect Premier, Chief Architect Interiors, and Home Designer Pro.
    ** The Terrain configuration is only available in Chief Architect Premier and Home Designer Pro.
    *** The Extended configuration is only available in Chief Architect Premier.

    Configurations panel of the Toolbar Customization dialog


  3. If you are missing one of the toolbar configurations mentioned in Step 2, click the Import button.


  4. The Toolbars folder associated with your program will appear. Select one of the missing Configuration.toolbar files mentioned in Step 2 and click Open.

    Do not select a toolbar.bak file during this step. If you're unable to tell the difference between them, right-click in a blank space and select View> Details from the contextual menu on Windows, or change the view type to List/Columns on a Mac.


  5. Repeat Steps 2-4 for any additional toolbar configurations that are missing.


In the event that the above options do not restore your toolbars, or the content mentioned above is missing, you may need to completely reset your toolbars to the factory defaults.

By completely resetting the toolbars to the factory defaults, you will lose any customizations that have been made to the toolbars. This should only be done as a last resort.


To reset the toolbars to the factory defaults

  1. Select Edit> Preferences if you're on Windows PC or Chief Architect/Home Designer> Preferences if you're on a Mac to open the Preferences dialog.


  2. Select the Reset Options panel on the left, then click on the Reset Toolbars button.

    Reset options panel located in Preferences


  3. You will receive the following Warning dialog:

    Warning message that appears when resetting toolbars


  4. Click OK to close the message box and your toolbars will be restored to the default configuration.


MORE INFORMATION

If your toolbars appear to be restored, but you are still missing a particular tool, it may be either that the tool is only offered in a more advanced version of the software, or it may instead be an edit tool.

When you select an object, the Edit toolbar appears. By default, it's located at the bottom of the program window, just above the Status Bar. The buttons on the Edit toolbar can be used to edit the selected object(s). Which buttons display depends on the type of object selected, the current view, and how you selected the object.

The Edit toolbar buttons are the same as the options in the contextual menu when you perform a right-click action on an object.