AutoCAD 2015 Change XREF Locations

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

As I'm sure we are not first to ever face this challenge, I'm reaching out to you for any possible suggestions.

What we have: is a old Server 2008 R2 file server/domain controller that has been very slow lately and it was decided to migrate to another one

A message was sent to all the internal Drafting group regarding the planned change and it seems there might be a problem.

Drafting is utilizing full reference paths in their drawings and a potential file server name change could be disastrous

Where we want to go: to a new Cisco C220 Windows Server 2012 with much higher performance.

Now question is, how can we automatically modify the reference paths (to either relative or to full paths to the new server) for all the few thousand drawings for customers?

I have tried the Reference Manager but don't seem to get anywhere, are there any details instructions on how to use this, or is it the right tool to use in this scenario?

I appreciate your feedback.

Thank you! 

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> but don't seem to get anywhere

Can you describe what happens or what does not happen as expected?

You might look to Shaann Hurley's blog "Between the Lines", there you can find >>>that article<<< about reference manager.

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Hello Alfred,

Thanks for your reply. I have reviewed the article as well but it didn't seem to bring much clarity...

As a test, I have loaded 2 Drawings in Reference Manager that I know contain references. Then I go to View -> List by reference type. 

Next, I expand XREF's and highlight all entries, click on Find and replace and type following:

for Find Saved Path - I enter the old server name

Replace with - new server name respectively

The result I get is the image attached - Replacements Made: 0

Can you tell what I'm missing or doing wrong? I'm sure it's something simple!

Thanks!

Ion

[Alfred.NESWADBA · Accepted solution]

Hi,

when you select the XRef's in the list of referenced objects you have 2 columns for paths, one for "Saved Path" and another one for "Found Path"

Are that valid paths? Do they show the current situation before you run the replacement by find & replace?

I just tried it to make sure and replace the path's from C:\TEMP to D:\TEMP and got the info "Replacements made: 2" (what is correct for my sample and confirms it's working.

- alfred -

[leothebuilder]

Have you tried changing the path to relative ?

In the xref manager, select any or all xrefs and on the 'Change Path' button select Make Relative.

[leothebuilder]

P.s. what I suggested of course works only if the xrefs reside in the same project folder as the host drawing.

And of course this needs to be done before moving to the new server.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your help, Alfred

I found the issue. All I had to do was to add \\ in front of the server name when 'find and replace' - so give it a full UNC path not just the server name. And finally it was able to change server name and confirmed in AutoCAD as well. 

Cheers,

Ion

[Anonymous]

Indeed that might be a problem and a project for some time in the future. The references are actually located on an entirely different share on the server 🙂

But thank you for your suggestion!

[scot-65]

Yup, we done did this with all the associated problems and headaches.

IT decided it was cleaner to combine all drive letters into one big drive

with subfolders. Little did they know what they were getting into until

after the fact.

Our scenario:

Different drives (drive letters) assigned to the various departments in our office

was merged into one drive with the previous drive names now subfolders

to this "master" drive.

All our referenced images and xrefs were thus lost. We are talking thousands

of images and several hundred xrefs.

Resolve:

Path a drive letter of the new subfolder that matches the old geometry.

Example:

Old Drive "L" = Drawings

Old Drive "S" = Storage

New Drive "X" containing subfolders called "Drawings" and "Storage".

Path a new drive letter to subfolder "Drawings" and assign drive letter "L".

Path a new drive letter to subfolder "Storage" and assign drive letter "S".

Make sure the new subfolder names matches the old name and you are good to go.

Once this was set up, we did not have to do anything to our DWG files.

The only issue I have run into using this method is the place of beginning.

If I start in "X" and attach, then later I start in "L", the attached is lost

(or maybe it is the other way around, I do not remember).

Hope this helps.