Designing shop drawings for mirrored apartments in autocad

[frida62DC4]

Hi! I'm an engineer working at a prefab house factory in Sweden. We build both single family homes and apartments. When we work on apartments that are identical but mirrored I would like put the whole element with text and dimensions (for shop drawings) in a block and just mirror it. This would allow me to make changes in one place instead of two, and I would know for certain that they are identical indeed. As it is now, I can't include any text in the blocks, but only the wood frame. Working with groups instead allows me to mirror and copy, but then I loose the link between the elements so the changes will have to be done separately. I have searched the web for any ideas as how other companies work with identical but mirrored buildings, but I have had no success. 

We make our plans in a different file. The architectural drawings are xref-ed into the file I have attached. I would love any input on how to work more efficiently. Is there a way to include text and dimensions in a block with readable text when the block is mirrored? It seems to me blocks aren't designed to be used in the way. Is there another method I can learn apart from blocks and groups?

Thank you in advance.

[imadHabash · Accepted solution]

Hi,

>> Is there a way to include text and dimensions in a block with readable text when the block is mirrored?

I'll give you the final practical conclusion .. There is NO problem with lines and plan elements for mirroring issue .. but with text and dimensions you have to make a separate xref for each case . 

[pendean]

Attributes in blocks mirror in AutoCAD.
TEXT (and dimensions) in blocks never have, probably never will in AutoCAD.
AutoCAD limitations. Try to work with the program instead of fighting it, you'll win rather that lose 😉

May I ask why you are mirroring XREFs? Would it not just as easily to create a mirrored version of that then XREF it instead?

[paullimapa]

Here's the Autodesk workaround which is to use attributes with the text you want placed as the default:

Preventing text in blocks from being mirrored with block | AutoCAD 2018 | Autodesk Knowledge Network

Of course the text then will only show up when you insert the drawing as a block since they're attributes

[frida62DC4]

I guess you are right 🙂 I just can't think of why text should ever be backwards and since it's frustrating many people I would hope AutoCAD could try and fix it?! But maybe its very difficult to do.
What do you mean by "create a mirrored version"? I am trying to have as few files (or blocks) as possible in order to not have to make changes multiple times. So if I create another file I will still have to make changes in both the original and the mirrored files.

[frida62DC4]

Thank you! I am aware of that solution and I use in blocks for example if I need a tag. But in this case I have lots of dimensions and creating attributes for every dimension would not work. But thank you 🙂