#AUTOCAD FILE TYPES HOW TO#

Is it used in part of a block definition?.Is it a standard AutoCAD layer (0 or Defpoints)?.Is it an anonymous block that just won’t purge? (*A…).Could it be nested inside another block?.If you don’t think you are using these, but items will not purge, then check some of the following. If you change the top option from “View items you can purge” to “View items you cannot purge,” you can see all the things that are not “purgeable.” Are these still being used? These can include styles, linetypes, layers, plot styles, and so on. The dialog shows that basically no items are available to be purged. See Figure A for the Purge dialog box from AutoCAD 2013. For various scenarios you may use one or the other. Purge can be done from the command line or through a dialog box. The PURGE command will not remove unnamed objects (see below for unnamed blocks). It will also remove zero-length geometry and empty text objects. The following types of unused named objects can be removed from the current drawing: block definitions, dimension styles, groups, layers, linetypes, and text styles. Lean drawings also are less likely to become corrupt. Lean drawings use less memory and have less storage requirements, thus saving drive space, backup space, load and save times, and email overhead. By getting rid of these extraneous items you keep your drawings lean. This can include unused layers, linetypes, fonts, styles, and blocks. Over time, drawings get bloated with unnecessary and outdated information. WBLOCK: Saves selected objects out of the current drawing or converts an existing block to a specified external drawing file.SELECTSIMILAR: A simple method to select objects based on similar properties such as layer, color, name, or line weight.AUDIT: Evaluates the integrity of a drawing and corrects some errors (command line).PURGE: Removes unused named objects, such as block definitions and layers, from the drawing using a dialogue or the command line.The command line can be a powerful production option, especially when combined with shortcuts and Macros. If you are a mouse dialog, ribbon, or toolbar user, I encourage you to consider the command line versions to increase your productivity. Some of these commands have dialog and command line options, so depending on your productivity style, you have options.

#AUTOCAD FILE TYPES HOW TO#

A few of the tools that you may find useful are “Purge,” 'Audit,' 'Selectsimilar,' AND Wblock.Ī brief outline of what you would use each command for and then a more detailed description of how they can be used for your cleanup purposes follows, as well as some example scripts on how to automate their use for drawing cleanup. These tools can be used individually to handle certain cleanup tasks, or they can be used in conjunction with others to handle larger cleanups. And when dealing with outside users, cleanup is a lot more likely.ĪutoCAD has some built-in tools that can help make the drawing cleanup process much easier. Sometimes, even with good drawing practices, files will need to be cleaned up. Automate your drawing standards, and object insertion processes verses copying one job to create another. Use polylines, and polygons when creating objects, use explode as a last resort and use blocks/dynamic blocks to represent your drawing data. Use standard layers, linetype, and text styles. Start by keeping your drawings lean and efficient. As we all have experienced, issues tend to hit on deadline day.Įverything starts with good habits and procedures. By keeping the cleanup process simple and automating as much as possible, it is more likely to get done on a regular basis.

Many times, users will clean up drawings only when they have to, such as for errors (crashing drawings, inability to import in to other applications), or files being too big to email, etc.

Archivers who need to clean up drawings for archival purposes.

Architects and engineers who clean up their drawings before sending them to an outside consultant or owner.Autodesk® Revit® users who need to clean up AutoCAD drawings before linking or, in some cases, importing them into Revit.Architects who receive civil drawings to clean up for an architectural site plan.Architects who receive clients’ prototypical drawings that need to be converted to the architects’ standards.MEP users who receive updated backgrounds from architects or civil engineers.There are a variety of reasons that AutoCAD users would need to clean up drawings. Not all users set up their drawings with your use in mind, and sadly some don't set it up with anybody's use in mind. Back February 19th, 2014 Cleaning Up AutoCAD DrawingsĪ necessary part of many AutoCAD® users’ day is cleaning up drawing files.

Autocad file types