Release 12 DXF files in AUTOCAD 2014

[Anonymous]

I have a thrid party software program that exports Release 12 DXF files.  These files are just 2D lines art that I then open with AUTOCAD 2000 with no problems, but I have a friend who has AUTCAD 2014 on his computer and he has let me try it out before I upgrade my software.  When I open these same files with 2014 version, I lose the dimensions.  What I mean is that the file opens correctly, but all of the dimensioning that was in the DXF file has disappeared.  Is this a problem with 2014, or simply just a setting that is incorrect in his copy of 2014?  Does anyone have any advise related to this issue.  I am holding off upgrading my software because of this problem.  Thanks for your help.

[rkmcswain]

I don't see any reason why 2014 shouldn't be able to open the DXF file intact. However, I am pretty sure that over the years, the auditing process has become more stringent during the file open process. It could be a case that your 3rd party application is not writing a completely valid DXF file, and AutoCAD 2000 just is not catching the error and letting the "invalid" data pass through.

Or it could just be a bug in 2014 too.
Your friend should submit a support request with Autodesk and let them figure it out. Otherwise, we are just guessing.

[Anonymous]

My friend is still in college and using an Educational Version of 2014.  Could this have anything to do with it, and can he submit that request to AUTOCAD since he is using this version?

thanks for your help.

[pendean]

It's all the same exact software.
Can you share this problem file here? We all have many versions of AutoCAd and can instantly cofirm if you ever had any dimensions in the file or not (we can also read DXF file content, you can too using a simple word processor).

[Anonymous]

here is the DXF file that is created by the third parts software.

[rkmcswain]

I count 21 dimensions in this drawing, however none of them actually show up.

I can select them all, and change the dimstyle to "Annotative" (which is a dimstyle that gets created in any new DWG file) and they show up. Alternatively, I can make any small edit to the STANDARD dimstyle, and they show up fine.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Those are the right dimensions, and we ran a test with my friend and he found the same thing.  They are there, you just need to do something to the to get them to show up.  This is a way to work around the issue, but I just wished you didn't have to take the extra steps.

Thanks very much for your help.

I will consider this thread closed from my point of view.

[scot-65]

Have you tried:
(command ".DIM" "Restore" "[Standard]" "Exit")
or
command ".DIMSTYLE" "Apply" method?