Can't Close Block Editor (Part 2) (2025)

[qimin-chan]

I was editing a block in AutoCAD 2024. When I finished my work and exited the block editor I couldn't see any other elements besides the block. I thought it was just a visual bug so I saved my file and restarted AutoCAD. The DWG now got stuck in block editor mode showing only the particular block. Elements in the block are now editable without entering block editor mode. Zoom to extent would only focus my window on the block instead of the entire drawing. Entering and exiting block editor mode by editing a nested block doesn't do anything. Elements outside the block are now part of a block with the same name in the Blocks palette, as if out of nowhere AutoCAD decided to take out everything inside the block and put in everything outside the block. 

I thought I somehow activated an uncommon command but I couldn't find anything relevant besides this thread from 12 years ago:

Solved: Can't close block editor - Autodesk Community

I tried the steps suggested but nothing worked. I panicked for a moment there because I tend to click save 2 to 3 times every time I save my file so the BAK file is basically the same as the DWG file. Good thing that the file is placed in a folder that sync to OneDrive automatically so I managed to recover the file through version history.

Anyone know what actually happened? Did I somehow activate some obscure command unknowingly? Or is it just a bug from 12 years ago that never got fixed? 

[imadHabash]

Hi,

When i open your CAd file DWG with Issue I found it OK and nothing weird. Click on below image to see what i mean.

[qimin-chan]

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[qimin-chan]

Hi, the drawing is supposed to look like "DWG Recovered.dwg". "DWG with Issue.dwg" is the file after the bizarre event and it only shows part of the entire drawing even if all layers are turned on and no elements are isolated.

I'm already out of the office so I can't check now but the particular block with issue should have words like "B Office" and "Pipe" in its name. If you try to insert the block in "DWG with Issue.dwg" you will notice whatever elements that are gone are now inside that particular block. My AutoCAD froze every time I try to edit the newly inserted block in "DWG with Issue.dwg" so I couldn't tell if it is possible to reverse whatever that happened. I ended up using a recovered DWG file instead after a few tries with no progress.      

[paullimapa]

@qimin-chan 

So you're telling us that the original dwg prior to the crash looks like this:

Then you performed a BEdit on B Office 4 Pipe which should be oriented vertically like this:

But after the crash you ended up with a dwg with the original Block Exploded and oriented Horizontally like this:

I tried going back to the original dwg and used BEdit on the same Block but I cannot reproduce the same crash.

Do you have the latest 2024 updates installed?

Enter About command, do a screenshot & share that here.

[qimin-chan]

My case is different from the the case in 2013 in that my AutoCAD did not crash when all of this happened.

I'm not sure if it matters, but the orientation shown in both files are not the actual orientation. The drawing actually consists of 4 zones which originated from 4 different CAD files that were developed by different people over the years. I tried to consolidate the 4 CAD files into one and I followed the orientation of the latest architectural layout when I did that. I changed the orientation of the new CAD file first by rotating the UCS about the Z-axis by 90 degrees clockwise (if I remember correctly) to match the orientation of the previous CAD files before I copy & paste the elements from the previous CAD files. 

I can't reproduce the same issue as well. I believe I have. I'll take a screenshot on the machine when I get back to the office tomorrow. 

[qimin-chan]

Here's the screenshot.

[paullimapa]

So you do have the latest 2024 updates installed. Well if you cannot reproduce the same error either then hopefully it was a one time deal and it won’t happen again. 

[qimin-chan]

I hope so. Maybe it's a ghost in the program that wakes up once every decade just to mess with people and someone might encounter it again in the 2030s. 

[qimin-chan]

I still have no idea what triggered it, but here's another sample. This time it's similar to the case from 2013. My AutoCAD crashed while I'm editing a block in a different drawing. I'm not sure why, but the file sizes don't match after I removed the same texts from both files without purging anything.