ArchPlug Settings — Detailed User Guide

Overview

ArchPlug Settings is the central control panel for the ArchPlug plugin suite in Autodesk Revit. It ships with every ArchPlug purchase and appears as a single Settings button on the ArchPlug ribbon tab, always in the rightmost panel.

From one window you can:

• Link your ArchPlug account by entering the email you use with ArchPlug — this activates your licenses and enables notifications.
• See every ArchPlug plugin installed on your machine (across all supported Revit versions), with its exact version number.
• See the license status of each plugin at a glance — active, trial (with days remaining), or expired.
• Get notified when a new version available! for any installed plugin.
• Receive notifications from ArchPlug (release notes, announcements) directly inside Revit.
• Choose the Light or Dark theme used by all ArchPlug plugin dialogs.
• Set the scripts folder used by Fast Script Launcher (this section appears only when Fast Script Launcher is installed).

ArchPlug Settings is a utility included with every ArchPlug plugin and bundle — it is not sold separately and does not require its own license.

Key Benefits & Use Cases

• One place for the whole suite. Instead of managing each plugin separately, you check versions, licenses, and updates for all ArchPlug tools in a single dialog.
• Effortless activation. There are no license keys to type into individual plugins — enter your email once, click Save, and your license status is retrieved for every plugin tied to your account.
• Update awareness. Each time you open the window, installed plugin versions are compared against the latest releases published on archplug.com. Anything out of date is flagged with a new version available! label, so your team never silently falls behind.
• License transparency. The License column shows exactly how many days remain on each plugin's license or trial — useful before deadlines, and for planning renewals.
• Full-suite overview. Plugins licensed to your account but not installed on the current machine are also listed, so you can see what you own but haven't yet installed here.
• Consistent look. The theme switch (Light/Dark) applies to ArchPlug plugin dialogs suite-wide, so all tools match your preferred working environment.
• Non-intrusive. License checks run quietly in the background about once a day. If your trial expires, ArchPlug shows a one-time notice — your plugins continue to work.

Requirements

• Autodesk Revit 2022–2026 (the plugin scans the add-in folders of all installed Revit versions).
• Windows (all ArchPlug plugins are Windows-only, as Revit itself is Windows-only).
• Internet connection — required only for activation, license status refresh, update checks, and notifications. The window still opens and shows your cached status when offline.

Installation

ArchPlug Settings is installed automatically with any ArchPlug plugin or bundle — there is nothing separate to download or install.

After installation, start Revit and look for the ArchPlug ribbon tab. The Settings panel with the Settings button is added after all ArchPlug plugins have loaded and always appears as the rightmost panel on the tab. Hovering the button shows the tooltip: "ArchPlug Settings – account, license, notifications".

ArchPlug Settings also keeps itself up to date: when a newer version of the Settings module is available, it is downloaded quietly in the background and applied automatically the next time you close Revit. No action is required on your part.

User Interface Walkthrough

Click Settings on the ArchPlug ribbon tab to open the ArchPlug Settings window. The window is resizable and remembers its position and size between sessions. It contains the following sections, top to bottom:

Header

The window title area reads ArchPlug Settings (orange "ArchPlug", light "Settings") in the suite's signature style.

ACCOUNT

• "Enter your email for activation and notifications:" — a text field for the email address associated with your ArchPlug account (the email you used when purchasing or starting a trial).
• Save button — stores the email and immediately refreshes your license status from the ArchPlug server.
• If the field is empty, the message "Please enter your email address." is shown.
• On success you briefly see "Email saved. Refreshing status..." while the check runs.

Status panel

A card directly below the email field shows your account and license state:

• "Account:" with a connection indicator:
• ● CONNECTED (green) — a successful status check has been performed.
• ● OFFLINE (gray) — no status check has completed yet.
• A status line with one of the following messages:
• "License active" (green)
• "Trial — N days left" (orange) or "Trial expired" (red)
• "License expired" (red)
• "No active licenses" (gray)
• "Enter your email to activate" (orange) — shown when no email has been saved yet
• "Status unknown (no internet)" (gray) — an email is saved but the status could not be retrieved
• "Connection error: …" (red) — the server could not be reached; the specific error is appended
• "Last check: MM/dd HH:mm" — timestamp of the most recent successful status check (in your local time), or "Not checked yet" if none has run.
• ↻ Refresh button — manually re-runs the license/status check. While running, the status line reads "Checking..." and the button is temporarily disabled. If you click it before saving an email, you are prompted: "Enter and save your email first."

SCRIPTS FOLDER (shown only when Fast Script Launcher is installed)

• "Path to your scripts folder:" — a text field holding the folder that Fast Script Launcher reads your scripts from. Edits are saved automatically when you click away from the field.
• Browse... button — opens a modern Windows File Explorer folder picker (falls back to the classic folder dialog titled "Select your scripts folder" on older systems). The selected folder is saved immediately.

INSTALLED PLUGINS

A scrollable list of every ArchPlug plugin found on this machine, with three columns:

• Plugin — the friendly product name. Detected products include: Lintel Beams, Dimension from Line, Room Dimensions, Roof Rafters, Room Names, Stairs & Corridors, Tag Windows/Doors, Entrance Door Tags, Fast Script Launcher, and ArchPlug Settings itself.
• Version — the installed version number. When a newer release is published on archplug.com, a small orange-red "new version available!" label appears under the version.
• License — per-plugin license status:
• "Lifetime license" — an active license with no expiry
• "N days left" — days remaining on an active license or trial
• "Trial expired" — the trial period has ended
• "Expired" — the license has ended
• "—" — no license information available
• The ArchPlug Settings row shows no license label, as Settings is a free utility.

Notes on the list:

• Plugins are detected across all installed Revit versions (2022 and newer); each plugin appears once even if installed for several Revit versions.
• Plugins that are licensed to your account but not installed on this machine are also listed, with "—" in the Version column, so you can see everything your account includes.
• Rows are informational and cannot be selected — there are no per-row actions.

NOTIFICATIONS

This section appears only when there are messages for you from ArchPlug (for example release announcements). Each notification is shown as a card with its message text and, when a link is attached, a "View →" hyperlink that opens the page in your default browser.

THEME

• THEME label followed by two radio buttons: Light and Dark (Dark is the default).
• The choice is saved instantly and, as noted next to the buttons, "(applies to plugin dialogs on next launch)" — ArchPlug plugin dialogs opened after the change use the new theme. The Settings window itself always uses the dark style.

Footer

• v{version} — the installed ArchPlug Settings version.
• archplug.com — a link that opens the ArchPlug website in your default browser.

Step-by-Step Workflow

Activate your account / licenses

1. In Revit, open the ArchPlug tab and click Settings.
2. Under ACCOUNT, type the email address associated with your ArchPlug purchase or trial into the field labeled "Enter your email for activation and notifications:".
3. Click Save. The status line shows "Email saved. Refreshing status..." and then your result — e.g. "License active" or "Trial — N days left".
4. Confirm the indicator shows ● CONNECTED and check the License column in INSTALLED PLUGINS for per-plugin details.

Check for plugin updates

1. Open ArchPlug Settings. The update check runs automatically each time the window opens.
2. Scan the Version column in INSTALLED PLUGINS. Any plugin with a newer published release shows "new version available!" beneath its version number.
3. To get the update, download the latest installer from archplug.com (click the link in the window footer) and run it. Updates to the Settings module itself are handled automatically in the background.

Refresh your license status

1. Open ArchPlug Settings.
2. Click ↻ Refresh in the status panel.
3. Wait for "Checking..." to resolve into a status message, and note the updated "Last check:" timestamp.

Use this after purchasing a new plugin or renewing, so the change is reflected immediately instead of waiting for the automatic daily check.

Set the scripts folder for Fast Script Launcher

1. Open ArchPlug Settings. (The SCRIPTS FOLDER section is present only when Fast Script Launcher is installed.)
2. Click Browse... and pick the folder containing your scripts, or type/paste the path directly into the field — it is saved as soon as you leave the field.

Switch between Light and Dark theme

1. Open ArchPlug Settings.
2. At the bottom, next to THEME, select Light or Dark.
3. The setting takes effect for each ArchPlug plugin dialog the next time you launch it.

Read notifications

1. Open ArchPlug Settings.
2. If the NOTIFICATIONS section is visible, read the message cards; click "View →" on any card to open the related page in your browser.

Feature Reference

Ribbon integration

• Adds (or reuses) the ArchPlug ribbon tab and creates a Settings panel containing the Settings button.
• The panel is created after all other ArchPlug plugins have loaded, so it is always positioned rightmost on the tab. Premium panels (Generators, Cost, Finishes, Floor Plan) are arranged to appear first (leftmost) when present.
• Button tooltip: "ArchPlug Settings – account, license, notifications".

Account & license status

• Activation is email-based: you enter the email tied to your ArchPlug account; no key codes are needed in the Settings window.
• The status panel reports one overall state (License active / Trial — N days left / Trial expired / License expired / No active licenses), while the plugin list breaks status down per plugin (Lifetime license, N days left, Trial expired, Expired).
• A quiet automatic status check runs shortly after Revit starts, at most about once per day. You can always force an immediate check with ↻ Refresh.
• Offline behavior: the most recent status is remembered and shown even without internet ("Status unknown (no internet)" appears when no fresh result is available). ArchPlug's licensing is designed not to block your work.

Trial expiry notice

If the automatic startup check finds that your trial has ended, Revit shows a dialog titled "ArchPlug – License" with the message:

"Your ArchPlug trial period has expired. Plugins will continue to work, but please consider purchasing a license."

and a "Buy a license at archplug.com" link. This is informational — it does not disable anything.

Plugin detection

• Scans the Revit add-ins folders of every installed Revit version (2022 through the newest) for ArchPlug add-ins, including Fast Script Launcher.
• Reads each plugin's real assembly version from disk; if a version cannot be read, "?" is shown.
• De-duplicates across Revit versions — each product is listed once.
• Appends plugins that are licensed to your account but not installed locally (Version "—").

Update notifications

• On every window open, the installed versions are compared with the latest versions published on archplug.com.
• Only genuinely newer releases are flagged; the label used is "new version available!".
• The check is silent and non-blocking; if the version feed cannot be reached, the list simply shows versions without update labels.

Self-update of the Settings module

• When a newer Settings version is published, it is downloaded in the background during a routine status check and applied automatically the next time Revit closes. No dialogs, no downtime.

Notifications from ArchPlug

• Messages retrieved during a status check are displayed in the NOTIFICATIONS section as cards, each with optional "View →" links opening in your default browser.
• The section is hidden entirely when there are no messages.

Theme

• Light / Dark radio buttons store a suite-wide preference used by ArchPlug plugin dialogs.
• Default is Dark. Changes apply to plugin dialogs on their next launch.

Scripts folder (Fast Script Launcher)

• Visible only when Fast Script Launcher is installed.
• The path is saved automatically both when leaving the text field and when choosing a folder via Browse....

Window behavior

• Resizable, minimum size 400 × 460, default 480 × 560.
• Remembers its last position and size between sessions; if the saved position would fall outside your current monitors, it safely reopens centered on screen.

Tips & Best Practices

• Activate right after installing. Enter and Save your email as your first step — until you do, plugins report "Enter your email to activate" and no license or notification data is retrieved.
• Use the same email as your purchase. License status is looked up by the email on your ArchPlug account; a different address will show "No active licenses".
• Click ↻ Refresh after buying or renewing. The automatic check runs roughly once a day, so a manual refresh shows your new license immediately.
• Open Settings periodically to catch updates. The "new version available!" flag only appears when the window is open — a quick glance once a week keeps the whole suite current.
• Check "Last check:" when in doubt. If the license information looks stale, the timestamp tells you exactly when it was last confirmed with the server.
• Set the theme once for the whole suite. One switch in Settings themes every ArchPlug dialog — no per-plugin configuration needed.
• Keep your scripts folder stable (Fast Script Launcher users): pick a permanent location; if you move the folder, update the path here so the launcher keeps finding your scripts.

Troubleshooting & FAQ

The status says "Connection error: …" or "Status unknown (no internet)." The ArchPlug server could not be reached. Check your internet connection, firewall, or proxy (the plugin needs HTTPS access to archplug.com), then click ↻ Refresh. Your plugins keep working from the last known status in the meantime.

The indicator shows ● OFFLINE. This simply means no successful status check has completed yet on this machine — typically because no email has been saved or there is no internet. Save your email and click ↻ Refresh.

I clicked ↻ Refresh and got "Enter and save your email first." A status check requires a saved account email. Type your email in the ACCOUNT field and click Save.

My purchased plugin shows "—" or "No active licenses." Verify you entered exactly the email address used for the purchase, then click ↻ Refresh. If it still doesn't appear, contact ArchPlug support via archplug.com.

A plugin shows "?" in the Version column. The plugin's program file could not be read to determine a version — usually a sign of a broken installation. Reinstall that plugin from archplug.com.

A plugin is listed with Version "—". That plugin is licensed to your account but not installed on this machine. Download its installer from archplug.com if you want to use it here.

"new version available!" appeared — how do I update? Download and run the latest installer for that plugin from archplug.com. The label refers to the specific plugin in that row; ArchPlug Settings itself updates automatically when Revit closes.

My trial expired — are my plugins now blocked? No. As the expiry notice states, plugins continue to work. Purchase a license at archplug.com to stay supported and current.

I changed the theme but a plugin dialog still looks the same. The theme applies to plugin dialogs on next launch — close and reopen the plugin's dialog.

I don't see the SCRIPTS FOLDER section. It appears only when Fast Script Launcher is installed. Install Fast Script Launcher and reopen the Settings window.

The Settings window opened in an odd place / I can't find it. The window remembers its last position. If your monitor setup changed, the saved position is validated against the current screens and the window falls back to opening centered — check the center of your primary display.

Does ArchPlug Settings need its own license? No. It is a free utility bundled with every ArchPlug plugin and shows no license entry for itself in the plugin list.