Editing multiple files with the same titleblocks

jaykay
jaykay
in 2D Drafting

Hi there,

I have a series of single DWG drawings, I need to be able to edit part of their title block attributes (they were all created using the same block) globally instead of having to go in and edit them one by one per file in the series.

Where do I need to go to do this?

New to CAD so please take it easy on me.

Thanks!

Comments

  • MacMorgan
    MacMorgan

    Welcome to the world of XREF. Look into it...

  • Kerry Brown
    Kerry Brown

    @jaykay said:
    Hi there,

    I have a series of single DWG drawings, I need to be able to edit part of their title block attributes (they were all created using the same block) globally instead of having to go in and edit them one by one per file in the series.

    Where do I need to go to do this?

    New to CAD so please take it easy on me.

    Thanks!

    Did you want to make the same change to the attributes in all blocks ?

    You'll probably need to provide a little more information about your work process.

  • ALANH
    ALANH
    edited May 2019

    There a a few different ways the simplest is to create a script with a list of dwg's and perform the update to a block or blocks in the dwg, opening and closing can be very fast iF dwgs are not to big.

    The other way and I am new to Briscad 30+ years Autocad is to use OBDX if avaialable. This allows changes to dwgs without opening them.

    If you look at Lee-mac.com he has a OBDX wrapper you could try, I need to do it as well.

  • Louis_Verdonck
    Louis_Verdonck

    When the files (layouts) are part of the same sheetset you can use sheetset properties in the title blocks: see https://help.bricsys.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006574273-Defining-Attributes#using-sheet-set-properties-in-a-title-block

  • Anthony Apostolaros
    Anthony Apostolaros
    edited May 2019

    You could edit the Block entity in one file, then change the name of the Block in that file, say to TB2. It has to be a name that's not used for a Block in any of the drawing files. Then copy TB2 to the clipboard using the CopyBase command, and use the PasteClip command to put it in each of the other files, deleting the original Block.

    Better still, since you're using the same title block in multiple files, put the title block in a separate DWG file and explode it. Then go into one of the drawing files and pull down "Insert > Attach Xref" to make an eXternal REFerence to the title block file. Then copy and paste that XREF entity into each of the other drawing files (again, deleting the original Block). The new title block will behave like a Block entity, but when you edit it in one drawing file (or in the title block file itself), the changes will be seen in all the others when you re-open them.

  • jaykay
    jaykay

    Thanks for your replies, I ended up using a script command, the following is an extract:

    **_ZOOM
    ALL
    -ATE
    y
    *
    REV_DESC_STATUS
    *
    9200.5996,4300.8038
    0.1358,0

    Text
    r
    Site As Built
    quit_**

    Then repeat for the reset of the fields, this worked well but I would like to batch run this process in the future.

    The issues I've faced were I had to run this in MODEL view but not a Layout, otherwise the commands will not run properly, I assume it is due to the selection area I had set being different to the one of the layout view?

    But as I've said above, it would be really nice to take this process further and automate multiple file changes with one script.

    Thanks again!

  • Jason Bourhill
    Jason Bourhill

    @jaykay said:

    But as I've said above, it would be really nice to take this process further and automate multiple file changes with one script.

    Try coupling your script with Roy's BKG_Batch.

    Regards,
    Jason Bourhill
    CAD Concepts