IntelliCAD does use a template file when creating a new drawing.  Unfortunately, the IntelliCAD programming interface just does not allow us to launch an IntelliCAD drawing using a template specified during startup like "Sight" Survey does with AutoCAD. 

 

However, the work-around is only mildly inconvenient.  Your startup procedure becomes slightly altered as you actually start IntelliCAD before starting Sight Survey.

 

Note: This procedure also works with AutoCAD LT templates.

 

1. Launch IntelliCAD using the IntelliCAD icon on your desktop.

2. Go to Tools>Options and click the Path/Files tab.

3. In the upper window of the options dialog (User Paths), left-click on the value for Templates and then click [Browse].  Navigate to the folder location containing your AutoCAD templates.  (Note: You’ll only need to do step 3 one time and you will usually skip this step unless you need to change the path to the template files for some reason.  You may just want to copy your template files into Intellicad's default template folder C:\Program Files\Simplicity Sight Survey 2009\IntelliCAD\Templates).

4. In the lower window of the options dialog (System Files), left-click on the value for Template and then click [Browse].  Choose the desired AutoCAD template.  (Note, the first time you set this up you will also have to navigate to the template folder.)

5. Click [OK] to close the dialog box, then start "Sight" Survey while leaving IntelliCAD open.  When you start a new "Sight" Survey job, IntelliCAD will use the specified template file.

6. You only need to do steps 1, 2, 4, and 5 when changing templates.  If you are starting a session without changing the template, simply start "Sight" Survey in a normal manner and let it open IntelliCAD as usual.