2017 Blocks inserted using Tool Palettes create Noplot layers

[Tekcon13]

New issue with Autocad 2017: 

When inserting a block (electrical symbol) from a Tool Palette, if the block's layer is not already defined in the drawing, the symbol layer is created as a Noplot layer.

Been using Tool Palettes for years and have never seen this particular quirk.

All the electrical symbols are in one master library drawing.  The layers in that drawing are all set as plottable.  I also made sure that the current layer of the drawing into which I was inserting the symbol was not set to Noplot, just in case the new layer was being created based on the current layer settings.  The new layer still got set to Noplot.

If the symbol layers are created before the symbol is inserted, inserting a symbol from the tool palette doesn't affect the preset layer settings.

The trouble is, as we are used to the layer being created properly in previous versions of Autocad, and Noplot layers presenting on screen as if they were plottable (ie. not faded or a different colour to indicate the Noplot status - HINT, HINT Autodesk!), drawings are getting plotted with missing symbols.

Anyone else noticing this behaviour?

[Sofia.Xanthopoulou · Accepted solution]

Hi guys,

just finished testing at my end.

I must confess, that there is a misbehavior in this function. I will forward this case immediately to our development to check it out. 

I am sooooo sorry for the inconvenience

In the meantime you need to go with @Tekcon13's solution in post no. 11. I will mark this and my post as accepted solution, so that everybody can see where we have a lack and how to work around it. 

Please continue posting if you have any concerns with this solution.

Thank you very much for this teamwork!!

I hope I will get some answers quickly, so I can update this thread.

Regards

[Anonymous]

Having same problem.  Very hard to recreate our tool palettes.  I tried the .atc fix with no luck.  Layers are still coming in no plot.  I'm thinking it's more intricate than just changing true to false.

[Anonymous]

where do i look to find this to make the change

[Anonymous]

Has a solution been provided for this issue yet? We're having the same problem. Thanks. 

[Tekcon13]

@Anonymous wrote:

where do i look to find this to make the change

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C:\Users\ (YourUserID ) \AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\AutoCAD 2017\R21.0\enu\Support\ToolPalette\Palettes

[Sofia.Xanthopoulou]

Hi all,

as I told you, development has been informed - there will be a solution - unfortunately I am not authorized to make statements about dates.

This is the official article to this issue.

But just to estimate the severity: How many seats are affected?

Thank you for your understanding.

[gros33]

Another work around to the official article above is to set the block layer
in the tool palette to one of the layers that block has some objects on,
thus making sure that layer won't be empty upon insertion.
As noted, it only happens to empty layers that didn't exist prior to
insertion.

[Anonymous]

ours is only 2 seats, but that is 100% of our productivity.

I did add the layers back into our template to work around but in doing so we have gone from about 63 base layers to now around 80.  

I was hoping to go down in complexity of layers, but alas the world seems to be working against me.

I also tried rebuilding the palettes.  That proved to be a fruitless endeavor as I do not understand all the nuances of the dynamic block and how they are set to come in (ie. on a certain layer, set to rotate, etc.) plus the palettes created from files seems unstable as the tool images disappear and reappear and do not select very reliably.

thanks for diligence.  I'm glad to know at least that it is a known problem and someone is working on it.  I wish I could change the text file (.atc) and be done with it, but i've tried lots of combinations and the best i've managed to do is make the palette disappear which doesn't seem that great, but it was a change which was kind of nice).

Thanks again.

Tim

[Tekcon13]

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Sofia,Xanthopoulou wrote:
But just to estimate the severity: How many seats are affected?

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4 seats of production drafting.

[Tekcon13]

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@gros33 wrote:
Another work around to the official article above is to set the block layer
in the tool palette to one of the layers that block has some objects on,
thus making sure that layer won't be empty upon insertion.
As noted, it only happens to empty layers that didn't exist prior to
insertion.

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Unfortunately for most of our blocks all the entities are on layer 0..

[Anonymous]

Adding layers to our template file does not help our production with previously existing drawings.

[cad_briggle]

Following Our Tool Palettes are used to create layers in our drawings and when the layer is selected on a tool palette the layer is created in a non-plot state

[Anonymous]

I was sad to see that the latest AutoCAD 2017 Service Pack 1 did not resolve this issue.

[Tekcon13]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was sad to see that the latest AutoCAD 2017 Service Pack 1 did not resolve this issue.

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Sad, but not surprised?

Perhaps we Tool Palette users are in the minority.  I know a third-party app customizer who won't touch them because they require "too much maintenance".  We invested hours in their creation - mainly the customized icons, but it was worth it for us, as they are an intrinsic part of our workflow. (tons of electrical & comms symbols, subdivided into separate tabs).

[Anonymous]

Thank you Tekcon13 for following this through and posting your success.

I had a very similar issue and what you describe fixed it for me. 

Thanks again.

[m_rogoff]

Find and Replace didn't work for me. See attached pics

Any updates on the solution from Autodesk? Thanks

[Sofia.Xanthopoulou]

Still in progress guys...

I have this thread on my radar  

You will get an update as soon as I find out something...

Thanks for your patience.

@m_rogoff, this article is already in the thread - please try to follow those steps. Maybe this works out for you.

BTW I think you need to search for <isNotPlotted="False" and replace it with "True".

Regards

[Tekcon13]

What Sofia said. 

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@Sofia.Xanthopoulou wrote:

@m_rogoff, this article is already in the thread - please try to follow those steps. Maybe this works out for you.

BTW I think you need to search for <isNotPlotted="False" and replace it with "True".

 

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[Anonymous]

Wow!!! I'm surprised to see that this issue came up in May and it still hasn't been resolved. I'm in the same boat as Tekcon13. I created the company standard tool palettes back in release 2008 and have been using the same ones ever since. Like Tekcon13 I'm currently 1 of 3 using the 2017 platform. The rest are on 2016.

Please let me know when Autodesk creates a fix for this issue.

Thanks!

[Sofia.Xanthopoulou]

Hi guys 

News on my end... This issue has been fixed for 2018. And our development is in the process of evaluating the consequences for 2017. This is as far as I can go with information 

Regards