One of the very first settings you need to make when starting a new project is to set up the grid system for your building.

There are two ways to create a grid system in Archicad.

Method 1: Using Grid System…

Follow these steps to create a grid system with Grid System:

1. Go to Design > Grid System…
   
2. Once the Grid System Settings dialog appears, you can set the parameters of the grid.

   
   – General Settings:
   

   In this tab, you will find the general options.
   You can tick the checkboxes under Place… to automatically add columns, beams, and dimensions after creating the grid system.
   Next to each checkbox, there is a Setting button that allows you to define the attributes of the column, beam, or dimension to be placed.

   Usually, I don’t select automatic placement for columns and beams here, because the column sizes at each position are often different. Even if you place them automatically, you’ll need to adjust them later, so it’s better to add columns and beams after finishing the grid.

   In this case, I will only tick Dimension lines and Total Dimension to automatically add grid dimensions.

   – Grid Elements:
   

   Click Grid Element Settings… to adjust the properties of the grid lines.
   In this guide, I’ll leave them as default without changing anything.

   – Name Rules:
   

   Here you can define the naming rules for grid lines.
   By default, grid names Start at A (horizontal) and 1 (vertical).
   When placing horizontal grids starting from A, the subsequent lines will automatically be named A, B, C, etc.
   If you don’t want the grid to start with A, you can change it to B or C as needed.
   The same applies for vertical grids (1, 2, 3, …).

   
   – Grid Positions:
   

   This is the most important part, where you set the grid dimensions.
   Under Horizontal grid lines and Vertical grid lines, use the “+” to add lines and “–” to remove them.

   Below, in the Distance field, input the spacing values between each grid line.

   Once all parameters are set, click OK to confirm.

3. Now, left-click to place the Grid System in your floor plan (I usually select the Project Origin as the base point, so I click at that origin to place the grid).
   
   After placing, you’ll have a full grid system like this. Notice that not only the grid lines but also the dimension lines are automatically generated.

   That’s how you set up a grid system using Grid System…

| See more: Create a Grid in Archicad

Method 2: Using the Grid Tool

Alternatively, you can also create a grid system manually with the Grid Tool.

Follow these steps:

1. On the Toolbar, select Grid under the More group.
   
2. Press Ctrl + T to open the Grid Settings dialog
   (this is the same as the Grid Element Settings in Method 1).

   After the settings dialog appears, configure the required parameters just like in Method 1, then press OK to save. Left-click to place the grid line.

   

3. Draw the grid line by clicking the starting point, then click the ending point to finish.
   

   The drawback of this method is that you can only draw one grid line at a time, instead of multiple lines simultaneously, and you cannot automatically add dimension lines like in Method 1.

   However, for non-orthogonal grids (angled or irregular), you cannot use Grid System, so the Grid Tool is required.