AutoCAD 2014 corrupting my 2004 Xrefs

[Timothy_Dike]

I work in AutoCAD 2014 but saveas 2004 as I exchange files with a lot of older CAD users. It seems that they can open any file I save in 04, however Xrefs that have been loaded in my drawings appear to be getting corrupted. The 04 users can not open them until I open them in 2014 and save them. They are easy to spot as they lose their thumbnail preview in Windows Explorer until they are saved again. It appears as if the Xrefs referenced in my drawings are being saved as 2014 even though I am not editing them. How can I prevent this. It didn't seem to occur until I upgraded from 13 to 14.

I have Xrefs set to Demand load Xrefs "Enabled with copy", with Retain changes and Allow others to refedit both checked. If that makes any difference.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> with Retain changes and Allow others to refedit both checked

At the moment you modify the XRef it will be updated to the current drawing format.

>> I work in AutoCAD 2014 but saveas 2004

That is not the way that should be default. You work with a current software and try to save it like a software 10 releases before. That can be compared to take a glass, push it to the floor so get's broken to 1000nds bits of glas (save new elements back in a way that 2004 can do anything with it) ... and when opening in 2014 (as you want to have the full new properties for all objects) AutoCAD needs to take the puzzels and tinker them together. It's not only a lot of time that makes saving and opening slower, you also risk that some elements are not reconstructed without errors.

If you have people that work with older AutoCAD releases then they can install Autodesk TrueView (free to use, >>>download<<<) to open your files and save them back to an older release. But I would really avoid to have my working files saved back!

HTH, - alfred -

[Timothy_Dike]

In a perfect world everyone would be using the latest version. But that is not an option here. Also in a perfect world AutoCAD would not be writing changes to files that are only loaded into a drawing read only. I am not edting these files, they are Xrefs in the drawings I open. They are somehow getting currupted in the process. So does anyone have any real answers here or should I just go back to using 2013?

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> Also in a perfect world AutoCAD would not be writing changes to files that are only loaded into a drawing read only

For me AutoCAD does not change the content of the XRef'd 2004-DWG as long as I don't modify it (as I wrote in the above answer).

With other words or steps:

  -  I create a drawing A.DWG in DWG2004 format (save and close it)

  -  I start AutoCAD 2014, create a new drawing B.DWG, start command _XREF to get the A.DWG referenced and displayed.

  -  I save this drawing as B.DWG and close it.

  -  I open the A.DWG ... it is in DWG2004 format, it is not rewritten (filedate has not changed after step 1)

     and I can open it in older AutoCAD releases.

So it works for me as it should.

>> In a perfect world everyone would be using the latest version

In a none perfect world AutoCAD has to play puzzle everytime to save your current geometry into a technology that is 10 years old. 😉

>> They are somehow getting currupted in the process. So does anyone have any real answers

I guess we should be able to reproduce it to find answers, at the moment I have no workflow to reproduce your issue

Can you describe what you do (exactly) to get that problem or is it depending on specific drawings (so can you upload one of those)?

- alfred -

[pendean]

So 2013 did not update your XREFs if you edited them while jn the top file?
Otherwise please explain the reasoning behind going back to 2013 please.

[Timothy_Dike]

I open a control panel drawing containing multible Xrefs of the internal parts. Check a dim and close the drawing without saving it. Later another user complains that a few of the Xrefs in his drawing wont load. When viewed in the file open dialog box, they lack a preview image, but open normally using 2014. I open and save the drawings and the other user can now load them.

I didn't have this problem in 2013, it only started after I began using 2014. The PC and OS is the same.

[pendean]

OK, so the problem is...
- You open a file XYZ that contains XREFs.
- You do nothing except view the file: you do not save, you do not edit an Xref while in the file, you just pan/zoom, look around then close it and answer NO when prompted to save the file.
- Anyone opening the file XYZ after you note all the XREFs are unloaded. not corrupt, not missing, not upgraded to 2014 format, just unloaded?
- You open all the XREF files, plus file XYZ, and save them down to 2004 format and all is well.

Is that the correct sequence? Read it carefully, I slipped in a few bumps you skimmed over.

[Timothy_Dike]

Your close; I open file XYZ containing 10 Xrefs, I pan and zoom and then pull a dim from two points. That is all I needed to know and i exit without saving. Coworker opens file ZYZ that contains 7 of those 10 Xrefs. 3 of them don't load. They instead display the path in text format as you would with an invalid path. The 3 files have not been opened individually, but are common Xrefs to both drawings. When viewed in AutoCAD the thumbnail preview is gone, but I can open that file individually without error message. I do a hide on it to give it the preview I want and close saving the file. Coworker can now open file ZYZ and his Xrefs load properly. If the coworker tries to open any of the 3 Xrefs he gets an invalide file error message.

It's not consistant as I have tried to reproduce the error, but have not managed to do so since last time.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

I'm not sure to really understand file XYZ and ZYZ and what AutoCAD version another employee had who opened a drawing that had 3 or 10 or 7 XRefs that are together referenced in XYZ as well as in ZYZ.

But one option you might try: look to sysvars XLOADCTL (>>>details<<<) and also XLOADPATH (>>>details<<<) to avoid that your referenced files are cached locally. Maybe that avoids some issues (hopefully). Check that on all workstations!

>> That is all I needed to know and i exit without saving

If you closed your drawing without saving it ==> look to the referenced files ==> have they changed their "modified-date/time" now?

- alfred -

[Timothy_Dike]

I will make notes on the files next time it happens. Problem is, I have real work to do and this really slows me down.

[Shawn_Niles]

It's an odd issue for sure. I've seen a few similar things to this where odd things seem to happen on their own. We don't have anything definitive, but one thing to try is turning off / logging out of the 360 services. This may be linked where if it is trying to upload a file to 360, it could potentially save the file for you. It's something to try if it happens again.

The other thing I've seen once was very strange. I had a user where if he had Windows Explorer open and was browsed to the folder where the DWG files resided, he was confident that the files were being over written without being saved. So again, maybe just as a test, close any Windows Explorer windows and see if the issue still happens.

[mgdzik12]

I'm having the same problem.  Did you ever find a solution?

[vitahex]

Is this problem solved yet? Cos I am having the same problem.

[mgdzik12]

The solution in our office was to set the XEDIT to (0) in ALL files.  I belive that this does not allow you edit an xref in place but it solved the problems of corrupting xrefs for other users in our office on a different version of AutoCad.  

[vitahex]

Thanks for your reply. However this is probably not an option for us as we do need to double click on the xref block to edit the xref files that way.

[jggerth1]

uhm,,, as soon as you edit the xref in 2014, it's a 2014 file.  Might I suggest that instead of using REFEDIT (which I've never considered reliable from day one) and instead use XOPEN if you are going to make any changes to the referenced files.

And then iof course, pay attention to the file format level it's being saved down to.

[vitahex]

Thanks for your reply. We have changed the setting here to make ACAD to save files to acad2010 format by default (please see attached screenshot). It does not create problem when we edit xrefs inside another drawing. The problem just occurs randomly when we are not even editing the xrefs.