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 February 2005

Refedit for Blocks

The fact that the Refedit command can also edit blocks is frequently overlooked. More commonly known as the method by which to edit an xref while in the host, the Refedit command is a powerful way to make one-off edits to all references of a block in a drawing. You can access the command from the Refedit toolbar, the Modify menu, or the shortcut menu of a selected block.

For example, you have created a tool palette containing your favorite architectural blocks. One of the door blocks, however, needs to be graphically emphasized. Using Refedit, you select one of these doors and make the necessary edits. When you complete the Refedit command by saving the changes back to the reference, all instances of that block are updated automatically.

Instructions to Update a Block Using Refedit

1. Launch the Refedit command. Do not close the Refedit toolbar.
2. Select the block reference to use as the 'guinea pig' on which you will be making the edits. This opens the Reference Edit dialog box. If you are using AutoCAD 2005, click the radio button for Prompt to Select Nested Objects. Click OK.

3. Select the block geometry you want to edit. In this example, I'm selecting all the door geometry. After selecting the necessary objects, press ENTER and the objects not selected for editing are faded by 50%.

[See this month's challenge if you know what variable governs that percentage.]

4. Make the necessary changes to the selected objects. In this example, I'm adding a Solid hatch to the door.
5. On the Refedit toolbar, click Save Back Changes to Reference, then click OK at the alert regarding all references.

Your drawing updates all instance of the edited block with the changes. The original block from the tool palette is not effected by this procedure, just the references in the current drawing.

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