How to re-reference data shortcut?

[ajennings004]

Hello. A coworker accidentally deleted a surface data shortcut in a drawing that has since been saved over multiple times. It wasn't until today we noticed the data shortcut was deleted. I want to know how I can re-reference that data shortcut. Whenever I right click the data shortcut to create the reference, the "create reference" option isn't available.

[user181]

If the create reference is greyed out that means it's already referenced in the drawing. Are you sure it's deleted? Maybe it's on a frozen layer or the style is a no display style or the style has been modified to not display it.  Does it show under surfaces on the toolspace palette?  

[Wojtek_Garczewski]

Hi @ajennings004 

Thanks for posing us. 

Have you tried to re-link these with Manage Data Shortcuts tool in Civil 3D? 

Please see:
https://cadpilot.com/home/jump-on-c3d/jump-on-c3d/2021/01/20/civil-3d-data-shortcut-manager-tool/

That may help to re-link Objects with DataShortcuts. 

Thanks,
Wojtek
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[ajennings004]

The surface I am try to reference is not under surfaces in the Toolspace pallet, but the reference is still greyed out.

[Wojtek_Garczewski]

Hi @ajennings004 

Sorry for the confusion, but not sure if I understand it correctly. 

Do you mean that Surface was created in DrawingA, then referenced to DrawingB, and then deleted from DrawingA?
So you would like to know if there are any chances to retrieve that surface?

Otherwise, can you share some screenshots from Civil 3D (e.g., Toolspace -> Surface, Toolspace -> DataShortcuts) so we can understand it better?

Thanks,
Wojtek

[Neilw_05]

Have you run the Validate Shortcuts command? Rt click on the shortcuts folder to access the command. If it finds invalid shortcuts it will prompt you to fix them or delete them. Assuming you still have the source objects in a dwg, you can browse to those files and pick the object that applies. That is one option.

Another option is to use the shortcuts editor (found in the Autocad folder on the start menu) and re-path the shortcuts to the proper files/objects.

Update: FYI, shortcut links can be based the source object ID or Name or both. By default the link is both. Thus if the source object gets recreated or renamed, the link can be re-established. For example, if a shortcut is linked to a surface model called EG in a dwg, and a user deletes the EG surface and creates a new one with the same name, it will have a new object ID, but the same name. Thus any shortcuts to that surface will remain intact because it has the same name as before even though the ID has changed. So part of your solution is to re-store any objects that got erased or changed by restoring the name to what it was in the shortcut.

Again, this can all be fixed with the shortcuts editor.