Attaching a Drawing as an External Reference

Attaching a Drawing as an External Reference
The next exercise shows how to use an Xref in place of an inserted block to construct the studio
apartment building. You’ll first create a new unit file by copying the old one. Then, you’ll bring a
new toolbar, the External References palette, to the screen. Follow these steps to create the new file:
1. Return to the 07a-unit file; choose File  Save As to save it under the name Unitxref.dwg,
and then close the Unitxref.dwg file. This will make a copy of the 07a-unit.dwg file for the
following steps. Or, if you prefer, you can use the Unitxref.dwg file for the following steps.
2. Return to the 07b-plan file, choose Save As, and save the file under the name Planxref. The
current file is now Planxref.dwg.
3. Erase all the Unit plans (enter E↵All↵), and, as described in the next step, purge the Unit
plans from the file. (By completing steps 2 and 3, you save yourself from having to set up a
new file.)
4. Choose File  Drawing Utilities  Purge to open the Purge dialog box, and then click the
Purge All button to open the Confirm Purge dialog box. This purges blocks that aren’t in use
in the drawing.
5. Click Yes To All.
Now you’re ready to use the External References palette:
1. Choose Insert  External References, or type XR↵ to open the External References palette
(see Figure 7.9).
2. Click the Attach DWG button in the upper-left corner of the palette to open the Select Reference
File dialog box. This is a typical AutoCAD file dialog box complete with a preview
window.


3. Locate and select the Unitxref.dwg file, and then click Open to open the External Reference
dialog box (see Figure 7.10). Notice that this dialog box looks similar to the Insert dialog box.
It offers the same options for insertion point, scale, and rotation.


4. You’ll see a description of the options presented in this dialog box. For now, click OK.
5. Enter 31´-5˝↵,43´-8˝↵ (metric users enter 957,1330) for the insertion point.
6. After the Unitxref.dwg file is inserted, re-create the same layout of the floor plan you created
in the first section of this chapter by copying and mirroring the Unitxref.dwg external
reference.
7. Save the Planxref file.
You now have a drawing that looks like the 07b-plan.dwg file you worked with earlier in this
chapter, but instead of using blocks that are detached from their source file, you have a drawing
composed of Xrefs. These Xrefs are the actual Unitxref.dwg file, and they’re loaded into AutoCAD
at the same time that you open the Planxref.dwg file. An icon in the lower-right corner of the
AutoCAD window tells you that the current drawing contains Xrefs.
This icon not only alerts you to Xrefs but also enables you to open the External References
palette, as you’ll see in the next exercise.
Next, you’ll modify the Unitxref.dwg file and see the results in the Planxref.dwg file:
1. To open the Unitxref.dwg file, from the current Planxref file, select and then right-click
the unit, and choose Open Xref from the shortcut menu. You can also enter Xopen↵ at the
Command prompt and then select the unit plan Xref.
WARNING Xopen and the Open Xref option in the shortcut menu aren’t available in LT. If you’re
using LT, choose File  Open, and use the Select File dialog box to open the Unitxref.dwg file.
2. Erase the hatch pattern and kitchen outline for the floors, and save the Unitxref.dwg file.
3. Choose Window  Planxref.dwg to return to the Planxref.dwg file. You see a message
balloon pointing to the Xref icon in the lower-right corner of the AutoCAD window. The balloon
warns you that an Xref has changed. Right-click the Manage Xrefs icon in the lowerright
corner of the AutoCAD window, and then choose External References from the popup
menu to open the External References palette.
4. Select the Unitxref name in the list box, click Reload, and then click OK. Notice that the units
in the Planxref drawing have been updated to include the changes you made to the
Unitxref file.
You can open multiple Xrefs at once by selecting more than one Xref while using the Xopen
command.
TIP The Open option in the External References palette performs the same function as the Xopen
command or the Open Xref option in the shortcut menu. To use this option, select and right-click
the Xref files from the list box in the External References palette, and then click Open.
Be aware that when an Xref has been modified, the Manage Xrefs icon at lower-right in the
AutoCAD window changes to show an exclamation point. This alerts you to changes in an Xref in
the current drawing.
Click the Manage Xrefs icon to open the External References palette. The Xref that has been
changed is indicated by a message in the Status column of the list box.



You can then select the Xref that needs to be updated, right-click, and choose the Reload option
from the shortcut menu to reload the selected Xref. You can also select multiple Xrefs if more than
one needs updating.
Here you saw how an Xref file is updated in a different way than a block. Because Xrefs are
loaded along with the drawing file that contains them, the containing file, which in this case was the
Planxref file, automatically displays any changes made to the Xref when it’s opened. Also, you
avoid having to update nested blocks, because AutoCAD updates nested Xrefs as well as nonnested
Xrefs. When an Xref is modified while you’re editing a file, you’re alerted to the change
through the Xref icon located in the lower-right corner of the AutoCAD window. You can click the
balloon message that appears from that icon to update any modified Xrefs.