Insert block - nothing there

[teresastewart3715]

Very basic problem: I insert a basic block and do not get any error messages but there is nothing there.  Not a problem with the block, it doesn't work for any block.  I go to try to insert another block and the block I just tried to insert is listed in the list of previously inserted blocks.  I can insert blocks when I'm in another dwg, so the problem is with this one dwg.  I searched the forums and tried everything that was suggested for other people.  Thawed/turned on all layers, regen, recover, recoverall, audit, purge, design manager.  Cannot even use pasteclip to copy objects from one layout to another.  I have my annotation visibility turned on and the block doesn't have annotative objects anyway.  Only ray of  hope: I could finally insert blocks when I selected Explode on the insert menu.  But I'm not always going to want them exploded so I was hoping for advice.  Thanks in advance.

[tcorey]

Sounds like you're using a layout. Are you sure the layer(s) are not Viewport Frozen? Global thaw/on won't affect the layer if it's frozen in the current viewport.

[teresastewart3715]

Thank you for taking the time to consider my issue.  All of the layers are thawed in the layout tab and in the viewport.

[tcorey]

Are these blocks internal to the drawing or coming from the outside. Can you post the problem drawing and a representative block that doesn't work?

[johngordon6189]

When you insert a block, does the command line say *Invalid

[johngordon6189]

Are the blocks annotative? Possibly not showing in the drawing because of scale? Just spitballing here.

[teresastewart3715]

Drawing is too big to attach, I'll try to reduce it an attach later.

Block is not annotative, nor does it say "Invalid"

Ironically, I can insert it exploded, but some blocks I wouldn't want exploded, such as a title block with editable attributes.

[tcorey]

The first thing I would do if I did have your drawing would be to open one of the blocks in the block editor to see what layer the sub-objects are on. Then I would head to my layer dialog and see if that layer or the layer the block is on are set to No Plot and to my Page Setup Manager to see if I have Display Plot Styles checked.

[volusiajim]

FIsrt thing I do is go to model space and zoom extents.  It usually shows up 3000 miles from no where.

[teresastewart3715 · Accepted solution]

This appears to fix the problem.

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/downloads/caas/downloads/content/autocad-C2-AE-dgn-hot...

It involves saving a couple of files to your product intallation folder which allows you to purge some additional things you couldn't before.

It made my files 50%-75% smaller and allowed me to insert blocks freely and use the copyclip command again.

MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS OPERATION TO BOTH YOUR DRAWING AND ANY OTHER DRAWINGS THAT IT XREFS.

Then save the drawing, then try to insert your blocks.

If you aren't sure if you're using 32 or 64-bit, click Start, type "system" into the search bar (don't hit enter), select System Information, System Summary tab.