Expert: Bill DeShawn - 1/18/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi. I have a file size issue that has ben on going. I am using AutoCad 2000 and my file size continues to grow from project to project. I have purged and erased everything from screen and yet my drawing size is still 2mb+. I am doing architectual drawings and seems I am picking things up from surveys that I can't purge. Can you tell me how do reduce the size of these files. Thanks Brent

ANSWER: Sometimes we end up with junk that we never use in our drawings as we get drawings from consultants.  We only use the parts that we need, but the rest we can discard.  Try WBLOCKing out the contents of your drawing to a new drawing name.  When asked to select objects, use a crossing window to select everthing that you see (all layers thawed and turned on).  Don't use the * (star) option of WBLOCK, because that will include the junk you can't see.  

Let me know how it goes.
Bill DeShawn
http://my.sterling.net/~bdeshawn


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Bill

I have made a couple of blocks recently and they also carry
what ever it is with them and they are 2+mm. I just tryed again with my start sheet, it did reduce it from 4.35mb to 4.15mb. I do see there is a dim layer that cannot be deleted...the only other layer is 0. Brent

Answer
Here's a way to get rid of junk in a block:  Draw a line to the INSertion point of the block.  Then EXPLODE the block.  Use the COPYBASE command to copy all the objects from the block to the "clipboard" using the end of the line as the base point.  Start a brand new drawing "FROM SCRATCH" with no template.  The basepoint of that drawing should already be 0,0,0, so in the new drawing use the PASTECLIP command to insert the contents of the "clipboard" at 0,0,0 (or just 0,0).  Save the drawing as the original block name.  Check your file size.  It should be as small as it can be now.

On layers that won't purge:
Blocks for the most part should be made of contents on layer 0 so that they won't add layers to a drawing when you insert them, unless adding layers is one of the purposes of the block.  Even blocks that have object with different properties can still be made on layer 0 and just change color and linetype properties of objects that require it.  There should be some objects, however that will have bylayer properties so that they will take on the properties of the layer upon which they were inserted, thereby signaling the drafter that he inserted the block on the right layer.  In most cases there is no need to have a block nested within a block, but you can't always convince people in authority of that, so, it's just something we have to live with sometimes.  You can use BF0.lsp (it stands for BlockFixZero) from my website to quickly change a block to have all of its objects within  to be place on layer 0 and then redefine the block.  

Sometimes a dimension style can use a user-defined arrow block that has layers other than 0.  They should be redefined so that they are on layer 0 and the colors of the objects within should be BYBLOCK.  That way if you wanted to change the color of the dimension, the arrows would change color too.  Also, if the arrow or tick block components are on the DIM layer, you'll never be able to purge the layer until you fix that problem.

Let me know how it goes.

Bill DeShawn
http://my.sterling.net/~bdeshawn