Need help! Im trying to edit a XREF

[Anonymous]

Hello, im an electrician and ive been using autocad for a year now and i understand the basics however, i need to edit the drawings sent to me by the engineers, and what they send me is XREF drawings (whenever i click one something the entire drawing gets highlighted and i am unable to edit or measure anything). I am able to edit them by clicking edit reference however im not used to this and im trying to convert it into a Block/make it part of the drawing so i dont need to edit reference and type save every time i switch between drawings. Is there any way i can make the reference part of the drawing or is this the only way i can edit it?

[cadffm · Accepted solution]

I can not say is it right or wrong, normaly it make sense when someone use a file as xref.

The way to go is: Open XREF palette, rightclick to the dwg xref, bind..

Please read the help about xref bind.

There are two types for binding:

Bind

Convert all names of named objects to a unique name <refname>$n$<name>

Try this and check blocknames, layers and so on, you will see it.

Insert

This option works like the insert command,

Only unknown named objects will be copied to your file.

So you can convert an external block(xref) to an internal block.

If you like to do this, you can explode the block references then.

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

I see that you are visiting as a new member to the AutoCAD forum. Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

 If you open the external reference manager, you will see what external drawings are connected to this host file.  They are just AutoCAD files and you can edit them directly.  Just open them up as you would any other drawing.

You can obviously bind them to the current file as kindly explained by @cadffm but this would negate the advantages of this drawing process.

If you edit them in place in the current file, you can use REFCLOSE to save your changes and keep working normally in the host file.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[cadffm]

I think we did not highlight the method for "direct" editing of xrefs well enough:
Mark the external reference in the drawing, right-click -> edit in place
or just command refedit.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply, How can I make the XREF an internal block?

[Alfred.NESWADBA · Accepted solution]

Hi,

>> How can I make the XREF an internal block?

Bind it >>>details<<<.

- alfred -

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

How is this question progressing?  Do you still need assistance with the Xrefs or have you bound them into your current file?