Chapter 14. Working with Drawings and External References Productively

AutoCAD 2000 introduced several new features that enhance how you work with drawings and external references (xrefs). The Partial Open and Partial Load enhancements give you the ability to load only the portions of a drawing you need to edit. Another new feature allows you to edit external references from the current drawing. Understanding how to use these new features can increase your productivity.

This chapter shows you how to use these new features, and also provides an in-depth review of AutoCAD’s external references. This chapter discusses the following subjects:

• AutoCAD’s Partial Open and Partial Load features

• When you should use xrefs rather than blocks

• Attaching versus overlaying xrefs

• Permanently binding xrefs to the current drawing

• Clipping xref boundaries

• Demand loading, and layer and spatial indexes

• Managing xrefs

• AutoCAD’s In-Place Reference Editing feature