Editing saved work

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to undo a process (extrude for example). Once the file has been saved, closed and then reopened? Easy in inventor, not sure in autocad.

Cheers!

[tpaul_hei]

If the undo button does not take you back to where you want you can try this instead.

Find the drawing file on your server or hard drive. Make sure you have the file closed out of AutoCAD. Once it is closed right click on the .dwg file in your Windows Explorer then select properties. A properties window will open up, you then can click on Previous Versions Tab at the top. This will have a list of all the previous versions of the file that windows has backed up.

You can also try another method where you type drawing recovery in the command line in AutoCAD. It should open up a window where recent saves and versions of your drawing files are. This only works if you have backups and quick saves enabled in the options for AutoCAD.

Hope this works for you. If you have any questions let me know.

[wispoxy]

Method 1: Recover AutoCAD file by using recover command

Recover Command is one of the simplest way to retrieve your AutoCAD file, to recover your file using this command follow the below procedure:

Open a new drawing and select File->Drawing Utilities and then “Recover”. Select the drawing from the dialog box and click OK.

Method 2: Recover AutoCAD file by using Auto save feature'

• Open AutoCAD application
• Go to Tools and then Options
• Under Options go to “Files” Tab
• In files tab click on “Automatic Save File Location” and check the location of the auto save files(Default location would be at C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Temp)
• Access the folder and try to search for your CAD file name, but the file would be of different extension(BAK or SV$)
• See the date modified of those files, if the date and time corresponds to your lost / deleted CAD file then change the file extension of those files from .bak or .sv$ to .dwg 

Note:  If your Auto save feature is not enabled, you can enable it by going to Tools-> Options-> "Open and Save" Tab->and make sure “Automatic save” is active and set the time for auto save

If the above two methods doesn’t help you in recovering your AutoCAD file, then go for the third method, it will definitely recover your AutoCAD files after unexpected scenario.

Method 3: Recover AutoCAD file by using a recovery program

Yodot Photo Recovery tool is a media recovery software which is especially built to recover AutoCAD files (.dwg) along with all other media files. This tool performs rigorous scanning and retrieves CAD file deleted / lost due to any scenario. Apart from recovering DWG files, this utility also recovers other media files such as photos, videos, audios, RAW images, documents and many more from all storage devices like hard disk, Pen drive, memory card, USB, iPods and etc.

Download Photo Recovery for Windows Download Photo Recovery for Mac

Recovering AutoCAD files using the software

• Download Yodot Photo Recovery and install the application to your desktop / laptop
• Launch the application and follow the main screen procedure
• Click on “Deleted Photo Recovery” option to retrieve your deleted AutoCAD files or Click on “Lost Photo Recovery” option to recover your missing CAD file
• The software scans your computer hard disk and displays all the drives present on the computer
• Choose the drive from where file is to be recovered and click “Next”
• The application repeats the scanning process and displays all the deleted / lost AutoCAD files in 2 views, “Data View” and “File Type View”, data view displays your files in hierarchal format and file type view displays your files based on file extension format
• Choose the files which you would like to obtain back
• Preview the files before saving
• At last, save the rescued files to your  desired location
• You can also use the software to save the files to an optical storage device like CDs and DVDs

Useful Tips

• Don’t save your rescued files to the same drive from where you are recovering from, which might result in overwriting
• Do not terminate you AutoCAD application improperly
• Always save your CAD file before exiting AutoCAD software
• Regularly backup your important AutoCAD files to any external device
• After any data loss scenario, it is suggested to stop using your computer device

[wispoxy]

This may help also:

http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/acadblog/how-to-undo-almost-anything-in-autocad/

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your help guys. Not sure I was clear in my request. I was wondering if you can edit a previous feature without undoing the work done after that. For example: In inventor software you can select one particular feature/process from a list and delete or edit that.

I am new to autocad, this may not be possible in this software.

I have extruded a shape and completed some work since, I would like to be able to go back and alter the extrude or delete that feature and redo it correctly, without undoing the rest of the work.

Cheers!

[tpaul_hei · Accepted solution]

That makes sense, ya AutoCAD is different. All undos are sequential and each object does not contain its own set of undos. When an extrude needs to be fixed I usually end up deleting the entity and drawing it again. You can also try some of the 3D modify commands to manipulate the 3D extruded object to what your looking for.  That would be a cool feature though if it worked like Inventor where each object could be undone without undoing other things to get there.

AutoCAD 3D objects are some of the simplest 3D objects you can draw using Autodesk software and as a result they lack cool "intelligent" features like your talking about.

Cheers!

[jggerth]

AutoCAD does not retain history between sessions.

The simplest thing you can do is to locate the .bak file for the DWG, and rename it with a dwg extension.  That will take you back to the previous saved state rather than the last saved state.

Next step woyuld be to recover from your system backups --  you do run daily backups, right?

Recovery Manager is more helpful in case of a crash.