EMPTY LAYERS

[skipwillmuth]

I'M A NEWBY TO ACAD, TRYING TO LEARN ABOUT LAYERS.  A BLUE STATUS ICON IN THE LAYER PROPERTIES MANAGER INDICATES THE LAYER IS NOT EMPTY. HOWEVER, IF I CREATE A NEW BLANK, EMPTY LAYER, IT'S STATUS ICON IS BLUE. IT SHOULD BE GRAY, WHICH INDICATES AN EMPTY LAYER.  MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT IF A LAYER IS NOT EMPTY IT CANNOT BE DELETED, BUT MY NEW BLANK, EMPTY LAYER IS EASILY DELETED.  I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

welcome @Anonymous.autodesk.com!

Which AutoCAD version and service pack do you use?

And is the system variable LAYERUSAGE active or not (if this variable is not active the layers-in-use are not evaluated at all).

I have tried it with AutoCAD 2016 SP1, when I create a layer (without making it active) the layers usage icon color is grey.

- alfred -

[skipwillmuth]

Alfred, Thanks for getting back to me. I just purchase ACAD LT 2016 two weeks ago. My registration documents do not indicate which service pack I have. I am not familiar with layer usage. When I type layer usage I get a prompt to enter a new value. How do you activate layer usage? In the last few minutes, I have played around with new layers, and they now display a grey icon. I don't know what I had done earlier that was different. Thanks again for your help, Skip Sent with MailTrack

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> My registration documents do not indicate which service pack I have

Start command _ABOUT ... and in that dialog you can see what service pack is installed.

>> I am not familiar with layer usage. When I type layer usage I get a prompt to enter a new value

You can always use the help, whenever you have started a command then press <F1> and you'll get details.

If the variable LAYERUSAGE is set to one then you are correct, then the icon should have the correct color.

>> I have played around with new layers, and they now display a grey icon

Well, that's one method to get something solved. But hard to say now what you should do if that happens again (besides of "Play with your AutoCAD" 😉 )

- alfred -