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Opening Archicad 21 file showed appls as Demo

PTCon IT
Participant

Dear all, I have a weird incident. If I open a pln file created in Archicad 21, it will show as Demo. 

However, if I launch Archicad 21 first and browse to open the same file, it showed as a licensed appln.

 

Anyone has any idea why this is so?

 

Thanks

PTCon

10 REPLIES 10
Barry Kelly
Moderator

I am guessing that you have a license for Archicad 21 but also have a newer version of Archicad installed for which you do not have a license.

If you simply open this file, it is opening in a newer version for which you do not have a license, but the .PLN file type is associated to this newer version.

Launching 21 and browsing works just fine because you have a license for 21.

 

Barry.

 

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

Actually, there is only 1 version. User has to launch Acad21 first to avoid the error. If the user opens the file from her folder, it will show as 'DEMO'.

So my post is not the solution - I have unmarked it as a solution.

 

If there is only one version of Archicad installed, then the PLN file type must be associated with that version, and it should open that version with a license.

It should be same as starting Archicad 21 first.

If there is only one version installed, it does not matter how you start it - it should start as licensed.

 

Try this.

Open the file from the folder so it starts in demo mode.

Then go to the HELP menu > about Archicad.

What version does it show?

 

Barry.

 

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

Or try this.

Open the Program Folder and have a look how many versions of Archicad are installed.

 

BarryKelly_0-1710225330689.png

 

If there is just one, I can not understand why it would start in demo mode.

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

Thanks for the followup ,Barry

 

It is a strange phenomenon. I open up the Help as suggested and it showed 'DEMO'.

 

If I open Archicad 21 first and then the file, it showed 'Licensed' when i click the 'Help' button.

 

Couldnt wrap my head around it

 

What I was trying to find out is what version does the demo say it is running.

This is my 22 licensed version, but the 'about' screen shows me this ...

 

BarryKelly_0-1710228650012.png

 

And if I check 'License Information', I see this ...

 

BarryKelly_2-1710228907043.png

 

Does the 'demo' version appear to be exactly the same as the licensed one.

Can you compare them both?

 

Barry.

 

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

Sorry....when i clicked 'Reply' it prompted 'Accept Solution'......anyway, the licensed Type shows 'DEMO'


@PTCon IT wrote:

the licensed Type shows 'DEMO'


Yes, but is the version, build and language the same for both?

 

I can't understand why when you click the file it runs as a demo version, but when you open the program properly it is licensed.

The only way I can think that it can do this is if the .PLN is associated to another version that is not licensed.

If there is only one version of Archicad installed, it should not matter how you start it.

 

What type of license does your co-worker have - hardware key, software or cloud?

Maybe clicking the file in the folder does not trigger the license somehow, but it makes no difference for me.

 

Also what operating system?

I am on Windows and know nothing about how Macs work, but still I don't think there will be a difference.

 

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

Sory for the delayed reply... we are using Windows 10 and we are on network license governed by a server. 

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