topic Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot) in AutoCAD Forum

Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

jleeperDJPCV — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 19:03:37 GMT

In one of my drawings, I have a nested Xref that will plot just fine on its own, but it does not publish. It's a level plan of a building- the drawing I'm trying to publish is a detail sheet which references the level plan, and the level plan references a background. The blocks from the level plan Xref are showing when I publish, but the background does not; however, when I plot this page by itself everything shows as normal.

All appropriate Xref layers are set to plot correctly, I've run an AUDIT command and it came back with zero errors found, I tried detaching the Xref and replacing it, all paths are the correct relative paths (no full paths), I deleted and replaced the viewport in paper space... am I missing something?

I think the strangest thing is I have three cases of these nested Xref level plans and backgrounds, but this issue is only happening for one of them. The others publish just fine.

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

pendean — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 20:48:50 GMT

Most likely you are using a pagesetup that PUBLISH cannot reconcile: replace that problematic layout with a new one that matches the others in the set: does it now PUBLISH?

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

jleeperDJPCV — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 21:02:26 GMT

I replaced the layout with a new one matching the others in the drawing- the same thing is still happening. The layout matched the others before, but I did still replace it just in case something had gone weird with it, but that doesn't seem to be the issue.

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

pendean — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 22:06:36 GMT

if you are able... can you post a screenshot of your PLOT command pop-up from this layout, a screenshot of the same from another layout in the set, and a screenshot of your PUBLISH command pop-up just before you hit that button to make it all happen?

If you're not familiar with screenshots in Windows here is a quick overview https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13776/windows-use-snipping-tool-to-capture-screenshots

Note: you cannot reply to the email and attach files: you have to come to the site, reply to my post then attached images.

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

john.vellek — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 22:19:46 GMT

Hi @jleeperDJPCV

I see that you are visiting as a new member to the AutoCAD forum. Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

It sounds like you have been very thorough in trying to get this resolved. Is it possible to share the data (drawings)?

If your data needs to be private or confidential, please email it directly to me at john.vellek@autodesk.com and please include a link to this thread in your email.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 21:07:01 GMT

I have this exact issue as well. Has anyone figured out how to solve this?

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

xmartinfontbote — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 09:48:33 GMT

Is there any proper solution because I have the exact same problem and I've already tried the steps in the original post...

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

vinodkl — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 10:31:42 GMT

Hi,

Please post the drawing along with the Xref so that we can help you out.

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

organicmodern — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 18:20:05 GMT

Same issues as described; resolved by removing unused xrefs. It appears there was a circular xref between files. The attached xref file location was greyed out. The unused xrefs were removed and the file location 'ungreyed'. Publishes fine now. This has happened to me before, but didn't understand why. (Nothing like sitting with a client or buildng official and stuff is just missing...)

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

prousseauCQJ6U — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 17:48:20 GMT

I've encountered this issue with AutoCAD 2022.1 on Win10. A nested XREF (Xref_nested, hosted in Xref which is in turn hosted in the dwg) won't print using publish but it does using plot. For reference, Xref_nested was supposed to appear elsewhere in the dwg (not shown in my screenshots) as a non-nested Xref (meaning I had inserted it directly in the dwg), but it had the same problem of not publishing.

Here are a few screenshots:

Plot details:

Plot result:

Publish result (missing nested Xref):

Publish details:

Here are the things I've attempted:

Reloading Xref_nested from Xref. Then reloading Xref from host dwg.

The solution I've found is to delete/detach every instance of Xref_nested in both Xref and the host dwg, then save/reload/regen everything and finally reinsert from scratch.

I highly suspect the problem resides in Xref_nested being inserted both as a nested Xref and as a regular Xref.

Now everything is fine.

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

ericAvB — Sat, 13 Jan 2024 20:27:37 GMT

Hi,

SHORT ANSWER:

For me the issue was always resolved by checking the path type of the XREFS. Change RELATIVE PATHS to ABSOLUTE PATHS.

LONG ANSWER:

Somehow the publish command has a difficult time finding the DWG's if it has to search for them in a folder structure; which it has to do if there is no path or a relative path.

Relative paths are versatile, because if you move dwg's between folders it can still find the necessary dwg's that are xref'd within.
However for publishing files that will probably never move it would be more stable to give them only absolute paths.

Pro tip: If you have XREFS with ATTACHED (not overlayed) NESTED XREFS then make sure all the NESTED XREFS also have ABSOLUTE PATHS. Because you will find that when publishing it will display all xrefs except the ones that are still on relative paths. Quite funny actually.

Good luck.

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

13lacIe — Thu, 23 May 2024 18:13:46 GMT

You don't need to change it to absolute paths, though that will avoid the root issue as a work around.

You can use this as part of the easy way to fix it though. Just turn all the paths to absolute, save each drawing, then revert them all back to relative paths, save each drawing again. This process should resolve the issue, ensuring the correct relative references are maintained, while still benefiting from the advantages of relative paths.

The core problem likely lies in a minor error within your xref’s relative path, which AutoCAD can autocorrect during individual operations. However, during batch plotting or publishing, the software reinterprets the paths without the benefit of AutoCAD’s automatic corrections.

It’s possible that there are various ways this issue can manifest. In our case, the user’s nested xref included the directory it was located in within its relative path—a detail that’s easily overlooked in a complex directory structure.

For example, consider the following folder structure:

root/BaseFile.dwg
root/xref/DrawingA.dwg
root/xref/DrawingB.dwg

In this scenario, BaseFile references DrawingA with the path .\xref\DrawingA.dwg. However, DrawingA incorrectly references DrawingB as .\xref\DrawingB.dwg when it should have been .\DrawingB.dwg—a mistake AutoCAD can internally correct.

When attempting a batch plot, the system tries to access root/xref/xref/DrawingB.dwg, which doesn’t exist. Despite this, AutoCAD can still find and plot root/xref/DrawingB.dwg because it searches within the root/xref/ directory, thus using the correct path.

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

lteegen28 — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 14:41:49 GMT

We were experiencing same issue with nested Xrefs not publishing. Eric's Pro Tip to convert Xrefs from relative to absolute paths resolved our publishing issue. Thank you!

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

ericAvB — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:14:06 GMT

Great to hear that you were able to resolve the issue!

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

kent123 — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 18:57:09 GMT

To ericAbB,

Unfortunately, it did not work for my case. I changee all path types from relative to absolute for all xrefed dwgs in all dwgs. When I publish from sheetset for all dwgs those xref backgrounds still could not print.

Re: Nested Xref does not publish (but it does plot)

darrylhouston9788 — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 01:54:09 GMT

I had to add the folder path to the nested xref under OPTIONS > SUPPORT FILE SEARCH PATH and then it printed OK. Been bugging me for years.