Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published January 2007

Adding Additional Attributes

Whether you have attributed blocks or blocks to which you would like to add attributes, this procedure will let you retrofit an existing block with attributes AND update the existing block definitions in the current drawing. For more information on Attribute concepts, see the opening article of Michael's Corner - June 2003.

Note: For blocks created on Layer 0, you will need to make sure Layer 0 is On, otherwise you may not see the geometry for editing when you use Edit Block In-Place.

Instruction to an Add Attribute to an Existing Block

1. My first recommendation would be that you create a new layer for the attribute and make that layer current.
2. Select the block to which you would like to add the attribute, then right-click and click Edit Block In-Place to open the Reference Edit dialog box.
3. On the Identify Reference tab, I prefer to use the option Prompt To Select Nested Objects.
4. On the Settings tab, if you are adding additional attributes, you may want to check the box for Display Attribute Definitions For Editing.
5. Click OK, then select the nested objects if you are prompted to do so.
6. 1. For those of you with existing attributes, you can copy an existing attribute, then double-click the copy and make the desired change for the new attribute.
   2. To make a new attribute, type ATTDEF to open the Attribute Definition dialog box and fill in the appropriate fields for your attribute. In this example, I'm adding a Manufacturer attribute for the chair.

7. If you are adding a new attribute, click OK to close the dialog box, then place your attribute.
8. On the Reference Edit toolbar, click Save Reference Edits (or Save Back Changes, if you are using an earlier version), then click OK.

There is a possibility that you will not see the additional attribute, and there is a greater possibility that you won't see the new attribute on the other instances of the block that was edited. Enter Battman (see October 2006).

Instruction to Display the Newly Added Attribute(s)

1. On the Modify II toolbar, click Block Attribute Manager (or just type BATTMAN) to open the dialog box.
2. Click Select Block and select the block you added the attribute to.
3. In the upper right corner, click the Sync button to synchronize all the other instances of the block to reflect the condition of the edited block. Click OK.

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