You can attach an entire drawing file to the
current drawing as a referenced drawing (xref). With
xrefs, changes made in the referenced drawing are reflected in the
current drawing. Attached xrefs are linked to, but not actually
inserted in, another drawing. Therefore, with xrefs you can build
drawings without significantly increasing the drawing file size.
By
using referenced drawings, you can
- Coordinate your work with the work of others
by referencing other drawings in your drawing to keep up with the
changes being made by other designers. You can also assemble a master
drawing from component drawings that may undergo changes as a project
develops.
- Ensure
that the most recent version of the referenced drawing is displayed.
When you open your drawing, each referenced drawing is automatically
reloaded, so it reflects the latest state of the referenced drawing
file.
- Keep the names of layers, dimensioning
styles, text styles, and other named elements in your drawing separate
from those in referenced drawings.
- Merge (bind) attached referenced drawings
permanently with your current drawing when the project is complete
and ready to be archived.
NoteLike a block reference,
an xref appears in the current drawing as a single object. However,
you cannot explode an xref without binding it first.
CommandsADCENTER
Manages and inserts
content such as blocks, xrefs, and hatch patterns.
BASE
Sets the insertion base
point for the current drawing.
EXTERNALREFERENCES
Opens the External References
palette.
EXTERNALREFERENCESCLOSE
Closes the External
References palette.
REFCLOSE
Saves back or discards
changes made during in-place editing of a reference, either an xref
or a block definition.
REFEDIT
Edits an xref or a block
definition directly within the current drawing.
REFSET
Adds or removes objects
from a working set during in-place editing of a reference, either
an xref or a block definition.
RENAME
Changes the names assigned
to items such as layers and dimension styles.
XATTACH
Inserts DWG files as
an external reference (xref).
XBIND
Binds one or more definitions
of named objects in an xref to the current drawing.
XCLIP
Crops the display of
a selected external reference or block reference to a specified
boundary.
XREF
Starts the EXTERNALREFERENCES
command.
System VariablesBINDTYPE
Controls how xref names
are handled when binding xrefs or editing xrefs in place.
ERSTATE
Indicates whether the
External References palette is open or closed.
INDEXCTL
Controls whether layer
and spatial indexes are created and saved in drawing files.
INSBASE
Stores the insertion
base point set by BASE, which gets expressed as a UCS coordinate
for the current space.
PROJECTNAME
Assigns a project name
to the current drawing.
VISRETAIN
Controls the properties
of xref-dependent layers.
XCLIPFRAME
Determines whether xref
clipping boundaries are visible or plotted in the current drawing.
XEDIT
Controls whether the
current drawing can be edited in-place when being referenced by
another drawing.
XLOADCTL
Turns xref demand-loading
on and off, and controls whether it opens the referenced drawing
or a copy.
XLOADPATH
Creates a path for storing
temporary copies of demand-loaded xref files.
XREFNOTIFY
Controls the notification
for updated or missing xrefs.
