Data Exchange > Interface > Creating Profiles for Import and Export > About Saving Profiles and Designating Them as the Default Profiles
About Saving Profiles and Designating Them as the Default Profiles
Before you create the format-specific import and export profiles, you must define a directory or folder as the profiles directory to store the import and export profiles. You can specify the path to the profiles directory in the Creo Parametric Options dialog box. You can, alternatively, use the intf_profile_dir configuration option to set up the profiles directory. Other locations to store the import and export profiles are the last-browsed folder of the current session, the working directory, or any other folder or directory.
You can save the format-specific import and export profiles by the following file extensions:
Import profiles by the *.dip extension followed by the format name, such as *.dip_<format>.
Export profiles by the *.dep extension followed by the format name, such as def_profile.dep_<format>.
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You can save an import profile only to the same format as the format of the model selected for import and an export profile by the format selected for export. That is, you can save profiles only to formats that appear in the title of the import or export profile editors.
If you do not click OK in the profile editor when you save the customized profiles, a message window asks you whether you want to save the settings of the import or the export profile to the config.pro configuration file or use the settings only in the current session. Click Yes in the message window to save the profile settings in the config.pro file.
You can designate a format-specific profile in the profiles directory as the default import or export profile for the respective file format. Use the import_profiles_<format_name> configuration option to designate a format-specific import profile as the default profile for the specific file format. For example, if you set the import_profiles_catia_v5 configuration option, you can designate a CATIA V5 import profile as the default import profile for CATIA V5. The Format and the Default Profile columns of the tables in the Import and Open Profiles and Export Profiles sections of the Creo Parametric Options dialog box list the file formats and their designated profiles. The designated profiles are thereafter used by default by the import, file open, append, assemble, and export tasks in the subsequent sessions of Creo.