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How do i NOT lose all my blocks when reinstalling AutoCAD

Ntuthuko.
Advocate

How do i NOT lose all my blocks when reinstalling AutoCAD

Ntuthuko.
Advocate
Advocate

Good Day

 

I have created a number of blocks but whenever I have to reinstall or upgrade to a new version I lose the blocks. The names of the blocks appear in the "ïnsert blocks" list  in my saved template drawing but without their definitions (ie they are blank). How do I avoid this?

 

Thank you.

 

Ntuthuko

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Soluciones aceptadas (2)
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17 Respuestas
Respuestas (17)

tcorey
Mentor
Mentor

Have you used Insert to insert one of those blocks, even though you think they are "blank"? Does it ask for insertion point, rotation, etc.? 

 

Can you post your template? What version of Civil 3D are you using?

 

 

 



Tim Corey
MicroCAD Training and Consulting, Inc.
Redding, CA
Autodesk Gold Reseller

New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. -- Kurt Vonnegut
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jmayo-EE
Mentor
Mentor

We will need more info but generally speaking, the best way to lose autodesk customization is to save your edits to default names. What is your template named? If it is acad.dwt (or any other default template name) and saved in the default setup location it will be over-written with an update or reinstall. Best way to avoid any of these situations is to use different names for customization files, styles and templates.

John Mayo

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pendean
Community Legend
Community Legend
First time/day on a computer?
No one at your office or location know much about computers and backing up user files?
If I may ask:
How do you avoid losing all of your files when you change computers?
How do you avoid losing all your Word/Excel and photos files when you change software or upgrade there or change PCs?

You avoid it by backing up everything that is important to you: do you need help finding backup software?
Do you need help moving files to folder you control that you save to an external drive or cloud service?

In AutoCAD for example.... if you have one single template file that contains ALL of your blocks that you every need, then back up that file by simply opening your template file, using SAVEAS command, and locating it into one of your own folders outside of the AutoCAD program.

HTH
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tcorey
Mentor
Mentor

@pendean : "First time/day on a computer?" 

 

Condescending much?



Tim Corey
MicroCAD Training and Consulting, Inc.
Redding, CA
Autodesk Gold Reseller

New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. -- Kurt Vonnegut

Ntuthuko.
Advocate
Advocate

With all respect, you have misunderstood my question. You should have rather not bothered replying. 

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Ntuthuko.
Advocate
Advocate

Hi. 

 

Yes I have used insert. It asks me to select an insertion point but when I do, nothing is added. 

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pendean
Community Legend
Community Legend
Surprise is the correct word, with all respect: re-read your post without knowing what you alone know and see what I mean.

So..
1) Is the problem simply that INSERT command is not finding the blocks you want?

2) Or you find the newer INSERT command just challenging to use?

3) Or is the block with that name already in use this one file with different content (or just a blank/empty block)? Try renaming the block in your file, then try INSERT again.

4) Or is the content of the block off-screen from where you are zoomed in (you need to zoom out), or the layers the content of the block are on are simply frozen/turned off?

If you are unsure, finish the insertion of your block, qsave, find it (SELECT command's LAST option should select it) then zoom out/in to reach it. Or post that DWG file here and tell us the name of the block and we can look for it.

HTH
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Ntuthuko.
Advocate
Advocate

Thanks but don't worry about it. Go and help someone else.

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davinatkins
Advocate
Advocate
Solución aceptada

When you are saving your blocks for use in AutoCAD, do not save them in the same directory that AutoCAD is installed in. Save them on a server, or something like that for sure. Otherwise when you reinstall AutoCAD it will delete the folders. That said, you probably already do that, so here are a few other possibilities.

 

In the AutoCAD options, there is a File tab. This tells AutoCAD where to look for resources. Go into the top option Support File Search Path, and add the directory that your blocks are located in.

 

So if it's trying to insert a block name that it's forgotten the path to, it will search that directory before yelling at you that it's lost.

 

The last possibility is that you may have moved the blocks after they had been used. This is a typical error for Tool Pallets, and I know you didn't say that's what you were using, but it's a possibility I guess!

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RobDraw
Mentor
Mentor

@Ntuthuko. wrote:

I have created a number of blocks but whenever I have to reinstall or upgrade to a new version I lose the blocks.


Where did you save the blocks?

 

They should actually be in a number of places, including but not limited to your block library be it a block file or a directory. The y will also be saved in a drawing files that you inserted them into.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
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Ntuthuko.
Advocate
Advocate

To tell you the truth, I don't know where they are saved. When creating blocks I select the entities and then type "BLOCK". A window pops up in which I can make a few selections such as base point etc, and then I click on OK. The block is created and saved. This window does not allow me to define a path so I have no idea where the block is saved.

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Ntuthuko.
Advocate
Advocate

Thank you, this seems to be my problem. My block creation process does not include an option for defining a save path, so I actually don't know where exactly the blocks are saved. All I know is that they are part of the drawing in which they were created (my template drawing) so I expect them to be there when I reset my template drawing after a re-installation.

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RobDraw
Mentor
Mentor
Solución aceptada

Those blocks are stored in the drawing files that they were created in. 

 

You should learn how to create your own block library. I would start a new thread to discuss the many ways to approach it.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.
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Ntuthuko.
Advocate
Advocate

Thank you.

 

I don't have a problem with them staying where they are created because that drawing becomes my template, so I should always have them. I don't know why in this instance I lost a few of my blocks that were on my template. Maybe it was a glitch or there was a purge somewhere along the line. But from the comments here it sounds like if I create and save the blocks in a custom template drawing then I shouldn't have a problem.

 

Thanks again for your and everyone else's help.

 

Regards,

Ntuthuko

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RobDraw
Mentor
Mentor

While I have a few blocks in my templates, that would not be where I keep my entire library. You should at least explore other options. At a minimum you will learn something and can make an informed decision if that really is the best workflow for you.


Rob

Drafting is a breeze and Revit doesn't always work the way you think it should.

davinatkins
Advocate
Advocate
Ahh, that's makes more sense! If you are using the B command to make a
block, you are saving it only in the drawing you are currently in. (If you
want to save the blocks as an external file, you should used the W command)

Without knowing exactly which drawings you saved the blocks in, it's going
to be difficult to assist directly. What I can recommend though is the
following...

Saving blocks using the B command isn't a bad thing. The new block library
tab makes it easy to get to those blocks later on. I suspect that you've
been doing this, and then having those blocks available in your recent
blocks tab?

Which will be empty when you reinstall AutoCAD (because no blocks have been
recently used).

So... Let's assume that is what happened. If you saved the drawing that
contains your blocks in the AutoCAD installation folder, then it's gone.
It's been overwritten and you're our of luck. Luckily, by default AutoCAD
doesn't save to that directory. By default it saves to the documents
directory, so it may still be there.

Perhaps the easiest way to find out, if to use the DesignCenter command.
(View tab, pallettes panel, looks like a skyscraper from a videogame made
in the 80s). This tool let's you browse your file system, and see what
blocks are saved in each drawing. It'll be a bit of a slog, but I think
it's probably the easiest way.

In the future, make absolutely certain where you have saved your files.
Production drawings should always be saved on a shared server or the cloud,
where regular backups can be scheduled - if at all possible.

davinatkins
Advocate
Advocate
I just saw this one! It all makes sense now!

The default template save file directory is on your local computer. I'll be
honest, they change that folder often enough that I never try to memorize
it.

Open up the options dialog (type OP). The first tab is the files tab. Click
on it. About halfway down, there is a section for template settings. This
defines what folder AutoCAD should store and look for templates.

You can open that section up, and see where the default folder is located.
Browse for that folder (it's in a hidden folder by default, so you may have
to edit explorer to show hidden files). Anyhoo, it MAY have kept your
template when it overwrote that directory when AutoCAD was reinstalled.

It is very good practice to edit this section of your options. Your
templates should really be stored in a different folder (preferably on a
server that gets backed up - but any folder that you have access to and can
be backed up is good).

The idea being that, you have a folder (let's say it's in
/users/bob/documents/cad/templates) that the AutoCAD installation process
doesn't mess with. When you reinstall AutoCAD, the first thing you do is
open up options and remap the template folder to your files. Bam, 1 minute
fix.