New to Xrefs-dwg was emailed, but no Xref

[andrews7412]

I was emailed a number of dwgs that have Xrefs, but from what I understand, I need access to the original/referenced dwgs? When I open my "External References" pallette, it shows "unreferenced", and "not found" references. The paths are to the customer's server? I think I'm missing the original file, but I'm new to this Xref, so I'm not confident that I'm doing everything right.

[rkent]

The sender has to send all the drawing files to you. Look up etransmit and then ask them to do the same.

 

Or they need to bind the xref drawings first before sending.

[Dana W]

I was emailed a number of dwgs that have Xrefs, but from what I understand, I need access to the original/referenced dwgs? When I open my "External References" pallette, it shows "unreferenced", and "not found" references. The paths are to the customer's server? I think I'm missing the original file, but I'm new to this Xref, so I'm not confident that I'm doing everything right.

The "unreferenced" is not something to worry about. It means a file was inserted probably only for working information as an xref but then erased. In the xref manager, select the unreferenced item, right click and click Detach.

[RobDraw]

Yeah, unreferenced can be ignored. If you are unsure if you got all the files, make sure to place all of the incoming files in the same folder. AutoCAD will find them even if the pathing is incorrect.

[andrews7412]

I'm just getting back into ACAD and these Xref drawings are missing all kinds of info, like walls. So if I put all the dwgs related to this project into a single folder, then open them, and the walls/info is still missing, that would mean I didn't get all the necessary files from the customer right? Because I'm doubting myself, I just want to know how to verify I didn't get the files, before I tell someone that I didn't get them...

[RobDraw]

Compare the list of XREFs that are not found to the list of files to verify.

[halam]

Any change these DWGs we're exports coming from third party software?

[Dana W]

I'm just getting back into ACAD and these Xref drawings are missing all kinds of info, like walls. So if I put all the dwgs related to this project into a single folder, then open them, and the walls/info is still missing, that would mean I didn't get all the necessary files from the customer right? Because I'm doubting myself, I just want to know how to verify I didn't get the files, before I tell someone that I didn't get them...

You may or may not have them, and some of them may be nested within others xref'ed to your main dwg.

 

You probably should open each xref to see if they have nested (sub) xrefs. To make sure of which ones you do have,you simply have to refresh the paths in any of the dwg files with Not Found xref issues.

 

keeping all of the drawings in the same folder with the main dwg will simplify re-pathing. Open the xref manager in any dwg that has xrefs, shift select all xrefs, right click, select Path, select Make Relative. That will re-path all the xref links to your local folder. With the paths set to relative, AutoCad will look first in the same folder the main drawing is in. Once the paths are all relative, then you know the ones marked Not Found are the missing files. If the path is not relative, as in absolute then AutoCad will only look down the previously saved path which right now may still be pointing to the client's computer, and the files will still not be found even though you have them.

[RobDraw]

AutoCAD does find them, if they are in the same folder, regardless of the pathing. That's why I suggested it earlier.

[Dana W]

AutoCAD does find them, if they are in the same folder, regardless of the pathing. That's why I suggested it earlier.

If the pathing is absolute? I never set pathing absolute so I don't know.

[RobDraw]

It's an old trick that gets around foreign or incorrect pathing. When AutoCAD cannot find the file by following the assigned path, it checks the folder containing the referencing file.

[Dana W]

Okeydoke, thanks. That explains why my paths are still mapped to the old folder right after I do a save as with the xrefs in both the old folder and the new one.