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June 21, 2013

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Darin Green, Synergis Lead Helpdesk Technician:

When AutoCAD drawings are corrupt we tend to forget the commands used to troubleshoot common issues. Our first thought is to RECOVER the drawing, which runs a low level Audit and tries to open the drawing. Second thought is AUDIT, which is a high level Audit to evaluate the integrity of the drawing and corrects some errors. Then, if all fail, we try to PURGE the drawing which removes unused items, such as block definitions and layers, from the drawing.

There are other tools that most people aren’t aware of, like the following 2 items:

  1. PURGE RegApps ? Purges background information created by third party applications as well as Autodesk Vertical applications. Those applications basically create milestones by storing information into entities within the drawing file.
  2. SCALELISTEDIT ? This feature will allow users to reset their annotative scales to the defaults scales based on the template used to create the drawing file.

In the following example, we are going to create a new Ribbon Tab and Panel which will nest the basic troubleshooting tools for preventative measures on corrupt drawings.

  1. While AutoCAD is open, type CUI and hit Enter, to get into the CUI Editor.
  2. Expand Ribbon, to see the Ribbon tree which contains Tabs and Panels.
  3. Expand Tabs to view all existing tabs.
  4. Right?Click Tabs>New Tab
  5. Name the new tab “Problems”
  6. Expand panels to view existing panels.
  7. Right-click Panels>New Panel
  8. Name the new Panel “Solutions”
  9. Drag and drop the Solutions panel into the Problems.
  10. Go back under Panels to the Solutions panel.
  11. Search for and drag the following commands from the Command List to Row 1 under Solutions
  • Audit
  • Recoverall
  • Scalelist Edit
  • Purge

12. Notice I added a new command “Purge RegApps”

  • Under the Command List, click Create a new Command
  • Label it Purge RegApps and adjust the properties to match the following:

Within the Macro field, we a calling the Purge command and setting the options need to purge registered apps. (Generally, you would be asked questions at the command line).
^C^C_.purge r;*;n;

Character Description
Space Equivalent to pressing Enter except when entering text to create a text object that contains spaces (between words). Use between the command and its options.
; (semi?colon) Equivalent to pressing Enter. The end of a line in a menu macro is also equivalent to pressing Enter. More helpful than using a space when you need to press Enter twice, because it shows the number of Enters more clearly. Also helpful at the end of the macro.
\ Pauses for user input, such as picking a point or entering a value.
+ At the end of a macro line, continues the macro to the next line.
* At the beginning of a macro, before ^C^C, repeats the macro until you press Esc or choose another menu item.
^P Toggles the display of the menu macro on the command line; makes the macro look neater when you use it.

13. You can also change the appearance of the tools on the Panel…
14. Select the command within the Panel Preview area to get to those properties.
15. Once everything is complete, click Apply.

To make a TAB viewable on the ribbon, we need to turn it on…

  1. While in CUI editor, select the current workspace under the Workspaces section.
  2. Select Customize Workspace
  3. Expand Ribbon >Tabs and turn on the Problems Tab.
  4. Click done.
  5. Select Apply and OK.
  6. Outcome…

I hope that helps you in the future so that you don’t have to go hunting for these important tools.

-Darin

Check out some of these additional posts by Darin:

 Darin Green is one of our Helpdesk Leads and provides tips and information in our monthly Helpdesk Newsletter.  Darin has over 10 years of CAD experience and in his time at Synergis he has provided support for over 700 customers to help them stay ahead.  He previously worked with Ritter and Plante Associates where he performed various zoning, project duties, and hands-on field work, along with surveying.  Darin has a broad range of experience with many CAD applications including AutoCAD, Revit, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Map 3D, among others.