This article was written for V8i several years ago and has now been updated to align with current versions.
MicroStation's default data folder is located here:
CONNECT Edition: C:\Program Files\Bentley\MicroStation CONNECT Edition\MicroStation\Default\Data
V8i: C:\ProgramData\Bentley\MicroStation V8i (SELECTseries)\WorkSpace\System\data
While it is possible to set the MS_DATA variable to use a ...\Data\ folder located in a Custom Configuration, this requires all of the files found in the default location to be copied to the Custom Configuration (otherwise various functions may fail) so is not recommended. That approach additionally creates a maintenance task if the contents of the delivered version change between versions.
It is possible to modify and individually locate some data files that have their own variables in a Custom Configuration.
MS_DATETIMEFORMATS specifies the filename and location for an XML file containing the available time and date formats. The default file is DateTimeFormats.xml which is fairly complete, but I did find it useful to add a format for year only to use in copyright legends:
<Format FormatString="yyyy" Description="Year Only" />
A user requested month and four digit year:
<Format FormatString="MMMM yyyy" Description="Full month name, 4 digit year." />
MS_CUSTOMSHEETSIZEDEF and MS_CUSTOMUNITDEF both operate in a similar way for paper sheet sizes and units of measurement. Imperial/metric sizes can be commented out as required. (Note commenting out existing entries is the best approach, in case you need to add any back later.)
Editing the Company_units.def can reduce the length of pop-down unit lists:
Even in a metric environment it can be useful to have the major imperial units available in case you need to annotate with imperial dimensions when publishing documents to imperial using consumers.
(V8i only, CONNECT Edition displays scales appropriate to the active master units: The list of scales available to Annotation Scale and other functions is defined by scales.def, Copy this file to W:\SS6\Standards\Data\Company_scales.def adding/deleting scales as required for your context, e.g. delete (or comment out) imperial scales. Set MS_CUSTOMSCALEDEF to specify filename and location. Note for a European user working on an imperial project, a version of the file containing imperial scales could be specified in the PCF.)
Where resources files containing Line Styles, older fonts or other symbology are needed MS_SYMBRSRC can be set to specify a Custom Configuration ...\Symb\ folder. A similar statement can be used in the WorkSet CFG to specify a location for WorkSet specific resources. Use of *.rsc allows any .rsc file to be made available simply by placing it in the specified folder.