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...I forgot to say thanks to paullee - great advice. I'll try it for a month or so and see how it goes!

Anyway I tried too with your file (I'm using FC daily on Linux so it's a V. 0.20.x), and effectively when I move a block, all pieces (walls + windows/doors) are exploding/placing random, very strange. Even making a Bim_compound before, same problem.

I've since seen some posts by Regis and others, which suggest that the whole business of adding doors/windows is a lot more difficult than I had thought! It surprises me that nobody else apparently has experienced the instability that I'm having, so I'm wondering if there is some problem with the installation of the prog, or maybe my OS..? (I'm using a Mac Mini M1 with OS Monterey).

IMHO it's not a problem of your version/installation, but bugs of the _move command that cannot manage too well walls+hosts. I've found a lot of these problems when placing windows/doors and moving all.

pmullans wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 1:32 pm My point is that the file (and all the other files I've been working with) behaves in a strange, erratic way. When I make changes to the positions of doors/windows, things jump around, or the program crashes.

ragohix769 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 1:40 pm IMHO it's not a problem of your version/installation, but bugs of the _move command that cannot manage too well walls+hosts. I've found a lot of these problems when placing windows/doors and moving all.

In fact, I am not sure if the said bugs had been reported earlier, in the Mantis Bugtracker, so there maybe properly some developers had a gap to tackle.

Care to help doing a step-by-step report to help?

Thanks in advance

I'm happy to do anything I can, or anything you suggest, but I haven't been making notes on any of this, just getting more and more frustrated each time there's a problem!

Here’s a simple one that happens all the time (to me!).

1. Make a wall along the x-axis, and a second wall at 45deg.
2. Choose any door from the library and put it in the first wall - no problems.
3. Choose another door from the library and put it in the second wall… it doesn’t go in the wall, but sticks out at an angle, but the trim for this door goes in the FIRST wall!!

Is that spooky or what?

(I now realise that I have to fiddle with normals to get the door in the second wall, but previously I was just trying to rotate it and then give it a push into the wall. Amazingly, this sometimes worked. What I can’t cope with is the door trim going in the wrong wall! How does it get there?)

If I'm doing this all wrong, please tell me, as I don't want to be wrong for one second more than is necessary!

"Move with host" problem has a report and is present in ArchWB.
https://tracker.freecadweb.org/view.php?id=4592

That doors and windows from the Library can be inserted with the Arch_Window command is a relatively recent feature. So you can expect some issues when you use them.

Previous discussion:
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=45839

pmullans wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:08 pm Is that spooky or what?

@Roy_043 should be right - the Arch WB preset window/door should be fine. Those from Part Library may not be optimised.

If osnap is set, 2nd window attached to the Wall at right angle, no problem.

I have worked on ArchWindow.py a bit. Doors and windows from the library should align with the walls if you use this version. Note that many of these doors and windows are old and will fail to recompute because their sketches are not valid in FreeCAD 0.19 and 0.20.

Two windows that are OK:
parts_library\Architectural Parts\Windows\Sash\Sash window.FCStd
parts_library\Architectural Parts\Windows\Fixed\Simple window fixed.FCStd