Below are some less often (or to my knowledge, never!) discussed ways to customize ChemDraw. All of these have only been tested on Windows (sorry Mac users!)
1) How to set your custom document settings as the default settings for a new file
The default document settings for ChemDraw are terrible: you should at the very least use the "ACS Document 1996" settings. However, whatever changes you make to the settings only apply to the current document. If you want your preferred settings to be the default settings whenever you create a new ChemDraw file, you can do the following:
1. Open a new document in ChemDraw and adjust the settings any way you want.
2. Save this document as a ChemDraw Style sheet with extension .cds:
File -> Save As, write the name you want in "File name" and in the "Save as type" dropdown list, choose "ChemDraw Style Sheet (*.cds)". And save the file to a folder (Documents?) where this style sheet can be left indefinitely.
3. Set this style sheet as the default for new documents:
File -> Preferences -> Open/Save tab, then browse to your previously saved .cds style sheet, unclick "Opening Any Style Sheet Changes Default", and click "OK".
4. Any new document that you create in ChemDraw will now have the default settings that you had set in step 1.
2) How to edit ChemDraw .xml files
Much of ChemDraw's settings are found in user-editable .xml files. For the customizations found below, you will have to edit these .xml files. This can be done in the normal Windows Notepad program, but I recommend using the free and much more powerful Notepad++. In any case, after making changes to and saving the .xml file, make sure to restart ChemDraw in order to see the effect of these changes.
Before you make any changes to any .xml file, I suggest you make a copy of the original to keep as backup if you ever want to go back to the original settings.
By the way, commands in an .xml file start with < and end with /> . In order to comment out a command in an .xml file, replace < with <!-- and replace /> with /-->.
You may not have to do the following! In order to be able to edit the .xml files, you may have to adjust the security settings of the folder in which they are. If you get "permission denied" messages when you try to edit .xml files, you will probably need to do the following:
1. Right-click on the following folder:
Older versions of ChemDraw (PerkinElmer):
C:\ProgramData\PerkinElmerInformatics
Newer versions of ChemDraw (Revvity):
C:\ProgramData\RevvitySignalsSoftware
2. Select "Properties", then go to the "Security" tab.
3. Click on the "Edit..." button, and a "Permissions" window will open.
4. Click on the first entry in the "Group or user names" list, then in the lower list click on the "Allow" checkbox of the "Full control" item.
5. Repeat step 4 for each entry in the "Group or user names" list.
6. Click the "Apply" then "OK" buttons, hen click the "OK button to close the "Properties" window.
3) How to edit the menus in ChemDraw
There are two different Menu.xml files that contain the settings to the various menus (i.e., the menus at the top of the ChemDraw window and the various right-click context menus):
Menu file #1:
Older versions of ChemDraw (PerkinElmer):
C:\ProgramData\PerkinElmerInformatics\ChemOffice\ChemDraw\GUI\Common\XML\Menus\Menus.xml
Newer versions of ChemDraw (Revvity):
C:\ProgramData\RevvitySignalsSoftware\ChemDrawApplications\ChemDraw\GUI\Common\XML\Menus\Menus.xml
Menu file #2:
Older versions of ChemDraw (PerkinElmer):
C:\ProgramData\PerkinElmerInformatics\ChemOffice\ChemDraw\GUI\ChemDraw Professional\XML\Menus\Menus.xml
Newer versions of ChemDraw (Revvity):
C:\ProgramData\RevvitySignalsSoftware\ChemDrawApplications\ChemDraw\GUI\ChemDraw Professional\XML\Menus\Menus.xml
3a. How to change the order of the menus at the top of the ChemDraw window (i.e., File, Edit, View, etc.)
Open Menu file #1 in a text editor such as Notepad++.
In the section <MenuBar usage="mainMenuBar"> that starts on line 4, you can reorder the different menus by changing the order of the <Menu sharedMenu="XXXMenuID"/> lines.
3b. How to edit the entries in the top ChemDraw menus
Open Menu file #2 in a text editor such as Notepad++.
In this file, you can reorder the items in the various ChemDraw menus. You just have to locate the menus. For example, you can find the "File" menu identified as <Menu uniqueID="FileMenuID"> on line 5. Similarly, you'll find the "Edit" menu a little lower as <Menu uniqueID="EditMenuID">.
3c. How to make the View menu entries more practical
The default View menu in ChemDraw is ridiculous: the default order of the toolbars at the top of the menu makes not sense, and some of the most useful toolbars are hidden in the "Other Toolbars" submenu. But this can all be changed!
Open Menu file #2 in a text editor such as Notepad++.
In this file, you can change the toolbars that are visible in the View menu and their order in the <Menu uniqueID="ViewMenuID"> section.
In this file, you can change the toolbars that are visible in the "Other Toolbars" submenu and their order in the <Menu uniqueID="OtherToolbarsMenuID"> section.
3d. How to edit other submenus and right-click context menus
Explore Menu file #1 and Menu file #2. You will find much of what you need to edit many of the submenus and context menus in ChemDraw!
3e. How to create entirely new menus
It's easy to create entirely new menus and submenus in ChemDraw. If you are curious about this, send me an email as this is way too long to write up!
4) How to customize ChemDraw toolbars and windows
Many aspects (not all!) of the various ChemDraw toolbars and windows can be customized by editing the corresponding .xml files. For example, among many other things, you can:
Change the size of the buttons
Change the image of the buttons
Change the order of, add, or delete buttons
Make the toolbar horizontal or vertical
Change the title of the toolbar
The main issue is to find the correct .xml file to edit. For example, here is where you will find the following toolbars:
a) General toolbar (i.e., the toolbar that has the save, save as, new document, etc. buttons):
C:\ProgramData\PerkinElmerInformatics\ChemOffice\ChemDraw\GUI\Common\Themes\ChemDraw\XML\Toolbars\
C:\ProgramData\RevvitySignalsSoftware\ChemDrawApplications\ChemDraw\GUI\Common\Themes\ChemDraw\XML\Toolbars\
b) Most other toolbars are here:
C:\ProgramData\PerkinElmerInformatics\ChemOffice\ChemDraw\GUI\Common\XML\Toolbars\
C:\ProgramData\RevvitySignalsSoftware\ChemDrawApplications\ChemDraw\GUI\Common\XML\Toolbars\
c) The main "Tools" toolbar that has most of the main drawing functions is here: