Controlling Xref Settings in the Options Dialog Box

Controlling Xref Settings in the Options Dialog Box
The External References (Xrefs) group in the Open And Save tab of the Options dialog box offers
some tools to help you manage memory use and other features related to Xrefs. If you’re working on
large projects with others in a workgroup, you should be aware of these settings and what they do.



The Demand Load Xrefs drop-down list offers three settings: Disabled, Enabled, and Enabled
With Copy. Demand Load is set to Enable With Copy by default in the standard AutoCAD drawing
setup. In addition to reducing the amount of memory an Xref consumes, Demand Load also prevents
other users from editing the Xref while it’s being viewed as part of your current drawing. This
helps aid drawing version control and drawing management. The Enabled With Copy option creates
a copy of the source Xref file and then uses the copy, thereby enabling other AutoCAD users
to edit the source Xref file.
Demand loading improves performance by loading only the parts of the referenced drawing
that are needed to regenerate the current drawing. You can set the location for the Xref copy in the
Files tab of the Options dialog box under Temporary External Reference File Location.
Two other options are also available in the Options dialog box:
Retain Changes To Xref Layers Instructs AutoCAD to remember any layer color or visibility
settings of Xrefs from one editing session to the next. In the standard AutoCAD settings, this
option is on by default.
Allow Other Users To Refedit Current Drawing Lets others edit the current drawing by
choosing Tools  Xref And Block In-Place Editing  Edit Reference In-Place (Refedit). You’ll
learn about this command in the next section.