topic Re: Help with inserting xref in AutoCAD Forum

Help with inserting xref

operakala13 — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 13:01:02 GMT

I want to xref drawing e002 into drawing model space e001. The person who wants me to do this wants this because of the layout of e002 and the information that’s on it. How can I do it? I’ve tried for a while and anything helps. I tried attach/overlay and I see nothing https://vlc.onl/ even when I play with my page setup or change names.

@operakala13 - This post has been edited due to Community Rules & Etiquette violation.

Re: Help with inserting xref

dany_rochefort — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 12:37:45 GMT

@operakala13 Go to your e001 dwg in model space. Type XR, attach dwg, choose dwg e002 and insert it onto a basepoint that is common between both drawings & save. Thats it basically...

Re: Help with inserting xref

pendean — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 13:16:03 GMT

https://www.engineering.com/story/using-and-modifying-external-references-in-autocad#:~:text=Inserting%20an%20Xref%20in%20aDrawing

Re: Help with inserting xref

paullimapa — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 13:41:05 GMT

You cannot xref info that’s on paper space only what’s drawn on model tab. You can use auto desk design center to drag and drop layouts from another drawing into the current drawing.

Re: Help with inserting xref

ChicagoLooper — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 23:04:13 GMT

Hello @operakala13

Your post is confusing.

You want to insert LAYOUT Tab from e002 and plop it down onto modelspace of DRAWING named e001, correct? And you want to insert it as an xref to modelspace because e002 Layout has important ‘info’ on it, correct?

If that’s correct, then the answer is, ‘Sorry, no. You can’t add a layout tab to another drawing as an xref.’

You can, however, bring in the Layout Tab itself from e002.dwg to e001.dwg and by doing this, e001 will gain a new Layout Tab which will be a ‘copy’ of e002’s layout tab. Do this:

Right click directly on a Layout Tab in e001 (original dwg).
Select ‘From Template….’
Change ‘file type’ to DWG
Browse to and select e002.dwg=> Open
Select the target Layout Tab from the list=>OK

The new layout tab from the Source dwg will be added to the Original dwg. The new layout’s info will carryover and now reside in the the original dwg.

Re: Help with inserting xref

yairMSKTU — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 11:02:15 GMT

if i understand you correctly, you want to keep the overrides from your xref layout ?

when you xref a drawing, you only xref the model space of it.

what you need to do is xref it and then overrides in the layer properties

.you can use the layer state manager to transfer all of the saved settings, but that sometimes cause problems, the safest way is to just do it manually.

you shouldnt worry wether its attachment or overly, you can change it later at any time