Locking XRefs

Hello,

I'm currently working with xrefed files and it would appear that I can select/delete xref within the current drawing. Surely the xref should be unselectable?

How do I lock the XRef so it's completely unselectable?

Hello,

Surely the xref should be unselectable?

Why do you say that?

I don't recommend doing this, but if you want the Xref to be unselectable, put it on the Defpoints Layer and then Freeze Layer 0.

well I was drawing the floor above so technically what I wanted was a floor plan of the lower floor to guide my decision making. But I kept selecting it when moving my spaces around. I'm working with a modular construction system that has an independent structure so the floor plans aren't the same.

Just so I know, as a student (still... 6th year) how would you typically use your references if you#re not locking them and using them as a guide like I am?

Having the xrefs selectable is a necessity for me. I need to be able to snap to them, run XLIST to find out what various layers are, Refedit or open them from within the drawing, etc. I've never felt the need to make them unselectable. But if that's what you want, just follow what I suggested in my previous post and your xref will be unselectable. That's the only way that I know of to do this.

I keep my XREFs on a locked layer. They are still selectable but you can't doing anything with/to them. AutoCAD will autmagically deselect when a command is activated. Cad64's solution, although not recommended, will work.

Sometimes, when I want to "see" something but not select it, I use layer isolate and 60% shading. That way, I can see it, but autocad is not looking at it.

The attached .lsp file is a command I've been using for a long time now when setting up backgrounds we've received from architects. When run it places all the xrefs currently in the drawing to their own layer. Which you may then lock in the layer properties manager, if you like. You will still be able to snap to endpoints/midpoints/etc...

The xref layers will show up in the layer properties manager as:

_XREF-(xref file name)

Hope it helps!

ALX.LSP

The attached .lsp file is a command I've been using for a long time now when setting up backgrounds we've received from architects. When run it places all the xrefs currently in the drawing to their own layer. Which you may then lock in the layer properties manager, if you like. You will still be able to snap to endpoints/midpoints/etc...

 

The xref layers will show up in the layer properties manager as:

_XREF-(xref file name)

 

Hope it helps!

Thanks for this.... just added it to the catalog of tools for the office.

For the record, I modified the code to put the XREF onto a Locked Layer.

The attached .lsp file is a command I've been using for a long time now when setting up backgrounds we've received from architects. When run it places all the xrefs currently in the drawing to their own layer. Which you may then lock in the layer properties manager, if you like. You will still be able to snap to endpoints/midpoints/etc...

 

The xref layers will show up in the layer properties manager as:

_XREF-(xref file name)

 

Hope it helps!

You inspired me Cadax. We just put all XRefs on the 0-XREF layer, but I'm going to follow suite; such a fantastic idea.

Here's my version.