The article discusses managing clutter in Origin projects with numerous forms, often inherited or created by multiple authors. It introduces the Form Set Audit tool, accessible via Home Forms Audit, which generates a report detailing files in the project folder, their form references, and inter-file references. This tool aids in organizing complex projects, especially those involving intricate Macros. An example project, "Examples 2023," is available for download, showcasing form setups for various tools in Origin. The article also provides links for further learning through a Learning Management System and an online training portal.
Have you ever looked at your Origin project and thought, "Wow, how are there so many forms in this project? I don't even know what half of them do anymore?" Yeah, me, too. Maybe it's an old project that you inherited. Maybe it has had several main authors and all of them had different organization conventions. Regardless of the reason, you have a project with so many possible layers that you don't know how to get rid of the clutter.
Don't worry, we've got your back! Take a look at Home > Forms > Audit:
That opens a form (yes, the irony is not lost on us) that allows you to setup a Form Set Audit report:
I've run this on a very large project that anyone can download - more about that at the very bottom of this article. What happens when I run the Form Set Audit with default settings shown above? We get a report that looks like this:
2,722 records in this report? Lots of files. You can see that column 1 focuses on the files in your project folder, then column 2 says how many forms that file is referenced in, and column 3 says how many other files refer to this file.
You can modify the results of this report by selecting different options, and this can be especially useful when working with complex Macros - you're able to audit specifically the files/forms that appear in the macro!
Hopefully this helps expedite clearing up some bulky projects.
Note: Looking for the project I mentioned above? It's the Examples 2023 project containing formsets for just about every possible tool in Origin and Beyond. The purpose of this project is for users looking for examples of how to setup forms for various tools. You can run most tools with example data to see the results, then apply those tools to your own data with some more knowledge of how they work. You can find this project for download on the Help ribbon under Download Extras. Keep in mind that this article was written in 2025, so the year of the example project may change in the near future.
Want to learn more?
Online Help Manuals - Click here for the latest version
Learning Management System - Click here to login or here to request access
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