Drawing file tabs disappear

[Anonymous]

Sometimes when I have about 15 drawings open, all 15 tabs show across the top of the screen (there is room on my screen to show all 15, 16, or more tabs). But other times only 10 or so tabs show and I have to scroll through to get to the non-visible drawing tabs. Why does it do this and how can I control it? It seems to change for the worse spontaneously. I'm running AutoCAD LT 2018 on Windows 7

I know how to turn all the tabs off and on, but that isn't the issue. Just that sometimes only SOME of them are visible. I have to shut down Acad completely and restart it to get full visibility back. Can anyone lend some insight?

[pendean]

when the quantity is reduced, is your program window not fully expanded?
Or do one of more of the files open have a longer file name than the others?

Try to post screenshots of both instances next time, grab the full screen so we can see what else is going on.

[Anonymous]

Will do. Everything else is the same... window is maximized, I can access all of my open drawings, etc. Just I have to go through extra steps to get to the other drawings. There's plenty of space to show more tabs. (I'll post a screenshot of when it's not malfunctioning when I get a chance to dump everything I'm doing and restart Acad) 

Does it have to do with the xrefs I attempted to open earlier? I was down to 10 tabs earlier today, then tried to open 3 different xrefs -which popped up for about a second, each- and now I'm down to 7 tabs. hmm....

I guess by your initial response that this isn't a run-of-the-mill issue. That's somewhat comforting.

[pendean]

I honestly have not seen it before except as I described it but I rarely open more that 5-6 files at a time: we are big users of SSM here so easier access to files kind of eliminates that need for us.

I'll have to test your theory about Xrefs being the trigger.

[Anonymous]

Here's what it looks like when working properly. I regularly have 12 or more drawings open.

Regarding xrefs possibly being the trigger, I haven't been able to test anything yet. But the xrefs that failed upon 'open' were links (or embedded) in a word file (.docx), and the xrefs that did open were links from an excel spreadsheet (.xlsx). Another weird thing from the excel xrefs, is that when they opened, they forced the Acad window to un-maximize. I don't know if that's a clue, but I'd almost brushed over that detail since it happens every time and I've gotten used to it.

Anyway, I look forward to what anyone can come up with.

[gotphish001]

I've never seen it only use some of the file tab area when there are more drawings and put the rest in a drop down. Seems strange. You could check the app store, maybe someone made a tool that puts them all on a palette or something for people that have many drawings opened at once for easier access.

[Anonymous]

@gotphish001 wrote:

I've never seen it only use some of the file tab area when there are more drawings and put the rest in a drop down. Seems strange. You could check the app store, maybe someone made a tool that puts them all on a palette or something for people that have many drawings opened at once for easier access.

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The goal is to get it to stop doing this. When it works properly, no 3rd party app would be needed. Thanks all the same

[pendean]

I'm not able to replicate your issue here in Win10 and LT2019, even with xrefs or through other programs to open DWG files. Depending on file name length, I can have 8-12 file tabs visible before it triggers the pulldown menu option.

[Anonymous]

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@pendean wrote:
I'm not able to replicate your issue here in Win10 and LT2019, even with xrefs or through other programs to open DWG files. Depending on file name length, I can have 8-12 file tabs visible before it triggers the pulldown menu option.

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Hmm... Thanks for taking a crack at it. I take it you saw the two screenshots, including the one showing all 15 drawing tabs.