Delete ALL unused layers in a drawing

[Anonymous]

How do I delete all the garbage layers that are not being used in drawing files. This includes the OOB layers AutoCAD has created  and also all the layers from template files or file info copied in from some other group.

2015 in use

Dave Z.

[C3D_TomR]

I use Crossref.lsp from Tony Tanzillo to search for layers, linetypes, etc. within blocks. 

I use this workflow to reassign all Object Layer settings to 0 using acad.dwt as the source drawing.

I use purgestyles to remove unused styles.

If many styles are set as default and can't be removed, I use ImportStylesAndSettings with a template containing only Standard (OOB) Civil 3D styles in it to overwrite all default settings. Then the unused styles can be purged.

Once I've removed all the unwanted styles, then I purge blocks, layers, linetypes, etc.

[nlewis1771]

Thanks for the help. Yep, that was indeed one of the options I was considering. What I ended up doing was just merging to 0. That ended up being the easiest of the different options as I was confident in what layers were being used.

It seems like there should be a way to purge the styles / layers not being used without having to do workarounds. Maybe next year.

[nlewis1771]

Thanks for the help. That's a bit more involved then simply being able to purge all styles / layers I'm not using. Easier just to manually brute force it. I did add in the crossref LSP though that's an interesting one.

[Anonymous]

A lot of messages saying to purge, I have always seen purge within Civil 3D as being bad practice, Civil 3D is designed such that it automates a lot of the layering processes, straight of the box you will see that drawings start with what seem like a lot of unwanted layers, leave them where they are, the software needs these to function correctly, if you want to create your own layers for other drafting works or text etc then create a layers filter that only contains the items you require, the software will not speed up by stripping out the unused layers, in fact you can make you workflow slower as the software will lose the ability to automate the layering process.

[MMcCall402]

The purge command can't delete any layer defined for use in any Civil 3D style, command default or object style.

[Anonymous]

It can however delete items that are built in to your Civil 3D template which can have an effect on your drawing productivity and compliance.

Either way, the purge command should be seen as bad practice within civil 3D

[Anonymous]

A purge will remove 48 layers from a standard UKIE Template so use with caution

[jefflambert9091]

Purge as a bad practice? Maybe on your own island. As a multi discipline firm some of our complicated projects used to get up to 9000 layers. With the ability to Import/Purge and reference styles, we have broke up our one company template into discipline templates. Each discipline cleans up the drawing before sending it on.  That includes purging styles and purging all. With the ability to import styles and the use of design center we can bring anything back in a heartbeat. We have had no issues with the software running slower. In fact, by cleaning up our drawings (which have reduced our layers by 60%) we have seen significant productivity.  

[Anonymous]

With standard Autocad I have always been an advocate of purging, just working in a civil3D platform I have seen it strip vital information out of templates hence why I see it as bad practice.

Caveat to that would be if it is vital to your drawing productivity, I have rarely seen drawings with 9000 layers in so you may have a point in the requirement to purge that.

It may have been more clear to say use Purge with caution, as mentioned previously it strips layers out of the UKIE template before any drawing work has taken place, these layers are in there to aid drawing productivity, I have seen drawings where creating Civil 3D elements, there is no layer to attach to it so I have to manually add a layer for that item.

As with anything I suppose it is whatever works best for yourself and/or your company and also depends on how your templates are created.

[jswentzel]

Might be a little late on this one, but I just had to solve this in C3D 2024:

- select objects on layers you want to keep

- copy from base point (0, 0, 0)

- CTRL+A to select all

- delete everything

- purge, audit, laydel, etc. to your heart's content

- paste from base point (0, 0, 0)

- only the previously selected objects will remain