Remove Hidden Data and Reduce File Size?

[Anonymous]

I have an AutoCAD 2010 DWG file that seems to contain hundreds of thousands of "hidden" or "invisible" objects resulting in a file size of almost 10MB. 

The drawing is a simple 2d titleblock.

As a test, I erased all of the visible objects from both Paper Space and Model Space.

I then ran Purge and purged "everything" from the drawing file.

File size is still almost 10MB in size, even though there are no visible objects on the screen.

When I type "Status", I get "451210 objects in...".

"Paper space uses *Nothing*".

"Model space uses *Nothing*".

I had a colleague run Super Purge on the file, but file did not reduce in size.

I have manually rebuilt the titleblock from scratch, and the file size of this NEW file is only 84Kb.

Problem is, the OLD titleblock was used in dozens of drawing files.

(Copy/Paste or SaveAs typically used to create new drawings.)

All of these files now contain these mysterious "451210 objects...".

Rebuilding dozens of existing drawings from scratch is not really an option.

Besides, if I copy/paste ANY objects from an existing drawing file into a new file, the 451210 "hidden" objects always seem to come along with the selected objects.

Exporting the OLD titleblock as a DXF file actually INCREASED the file size.

As far as I know, the OLD titleblock drawing was originally created with "plain" AutoCAD, probably 2005, or possibly even earlier version.

No 3rd party software was involved in the creation of this titleblock as far as I know.

I've read some of the other posts in AutoCAD forums regarding deleting hidden data, but haven't found anything yet that might solve this problem.

Any suggestions/comments would be welcomed.

Regards,

martinwk2

[rafaelricardorj]

Try to use DXFOUT and then open the file and use PURGE

[rkmcswain]

Zipe and post the DWG file please. We are just guessing w/o it.

[Michiel.Valcke]

My standard workflow for clearing files is the following:

AUDIT (fix errors <Y>)
EXPLODE on all items that are allowed to be exploded. (sometimes I repeat this step if I'm exploding blocks which contain other block definitions)
PURGE (<all>)
OVERKILL
AUDIT (fix errors <Y>)

for 3D objects and solids I also use the BREP command.

You can also update the block definition within an existing drawing without having to redraw the entire thing.

Read more about how to do this <here>.

[Gberling2]

A former colleague of mine had a title block he used. That title block may have 80k blocks inside the file with no definition. I draw a circle then using makeblock i redefine the block which now has a circle in it. Regen the drawing and 80000 blocks magically appear. Erase all of the blocks then Purge the drawing. I have had simple drawings reduce in size by 100x.

It is a real struggle trying to keep this INFECTED title block out of my drawings.

Gustav

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply.

As a test, I opened one of the existing DWG files and ran DXFOUT.

After running DXFOUT, I then ran Purge and Audit.

The Audit process ran for about 3 minutes and resulted in thousands of messages similar to:

"AcDbDictionary (8962) 990 ePermanentlyErased Delete Entry"

"Total errors found 451005 fixed 451005"

After Saving back to a DWG file, the file size went from 13.1MB to 281KB.

Where would these Dictionary entities be coming from?

[rkmcswain]

martinwk2 wrote:

Where would these Dictionary entities be coming from?

Impossible to know for sure without someone inspecting the drawing. Since you have not posted it, we are just guessing. My guess would be the DGN linetype bloat.