Manually Installing Core Catalogs for Home Designer Essentials


Reference Number: KB-02898
Last Modified: May 26, 2023

The information in this article applies to:

Legacy



QUESTION

I am unable to download the Core Catalog files for my Home Designer Essentials product. How can I manually install them?

Home Designer Essentials was discontinued in 2018 with the final release version being Home Designer Essentials 2019.


ANSWER

Follow the steps below to download the catalog files to your computer, then copy them to their respective locations.

It is recommended to create a folder on your computer, in an easy to access location such as your desktop, where you can save these files to, otherwise they will download to whatever default location your web browser is set to, typically your Downloads folder.


To download the core catalog files

  1. One by one, right-click the following links and choose Save Link As (or appropriate counterpart for your internet browser), allowing you to save the file to a specific location.

    Note: You must be signed in to your Chief Architect account to save or download the libraries linked below. 

  2. Direct it to save to the new folder you created.


  3. Download and save the Core Libraries for Home Designer Essentials 2019:



  4. Download and save the Referenced Files for Home Designer Essentials 2019:


Click here to go to the Core Libraries and Referenced Files for Home Designer Essentials 2015 through 2018

Referenced Files are compressed .zip folders and need to be copied as-is; do not open or extract the contents of these files.


Open both the folder containing the downloaded files, as well as the destination location where the catalog files will be copied to, then copy or move the files into the correct location.


To install the core catalog files on Windows

  1. Close Home Designer Essentials.


  2. On your keyboard, hold the Windows Key and press R once to open a Run dialog.


  3. In the Open line of the Run dialog, type %programdata% and press OK.


  4. Locate and browse into the Home Designer Essentials 2019 folder or the appropriate folder for your version.


  5. Copy the downloaded Core Libraries (.calib) files into the Core Libraries folder.


  6. Copy the downloaded Referenced Files (.zip) files into the Referenced Files folder.


To install the core catalog files on macOS

  1. Close Home Designer Essentials.


  2. Open Finder and in the menu select Go> Go To Folder.


  3. In the dialog type /Library/Application Support and press Go.


  4. Browse into the Home Designer Essentials 2019 folder or the appropriate folder for your version.


  5. Copy the downloaded Core Libraries (.calib) files into the Core Libraries folder.


  6. Copy the downloaded Referenced Files (.zip) files into the Referenced Files folder.


Legacy Version Libraries


Home Designer Essentials 2018

Download and save these Core Libraries for Home Designer Essentials 2018:


Download and save these Referenced Files for Home Designer Essentials 2018:


Home Designer Essentials 2017

Download and save these Core Libraries for Home Designer Essentials 2017:


Download and save these Referenced Files for Home Designer Essentials 2017:


Home Designer Essentials 2016

Download and save these Core Libraries for Home Designer Essentials 2016:


Download and save these Referenced Files for Home Designer Essentials 2016:


Home Designer Essentials 2015

Download and save these Core Libraries for Home Designer Essentials 2015:


Download and save these Referenced Files for Home Designer Essentials 2015: