xrefs to blocks

[Juice]

hello everyone,

I know this is going to be a long shot, but is their a way to turn an external reference that's inserted in to a drawing into a block so i can modify it? I mean i know i can reinsert it as a block, but is there a way to skip that step and just do right in the drawing.

Thanks ahead of time
Juice

 

[jugglerbri]

Juice,

You don't need to insert it as a block to edit it. That would kinda defeat the purpose of xrefing it. Depending on what version you are using, open it up in the current session or start a new session and open it there, edit it, save and close it, then reload it in the original drawing. Or, if you have 2000 or 2002, you can refedit it.

Brian

 

[Estassoc]

Juice,

If you want to bind an xref to a drawing as a block, use
the insert option. Type xref at the command prompt.Select
the xref you want to bind, click on bind and select the
insert option in the bind xrefs dialog box.

Hope this helps.

Leo

 

[FH]

Dear juice,
The command XBIND is the best way to turn a xref to a block
or insert components of a xref into the current drawing.
In AutoCAD 2000 (and later versions) you can modify inserted
blocks and xrefs using the REFEDIT command.

Farzad

 

[FH]

oops,
The XBIND command just inserts xrefs components.
You can enter the XREF command and select the xref name
in the list. Then click on Bind button. A new dialog box
will be appeared, if you select the Bind mode, all symbol
names (like layer names,...) insert into the current
drawing with a prefix. If you select the Insert mode, all
symbol names insert into the current drawing without a
prefix.

Farzad

 

[cadkid]

Hi Juice,
I agree with brian, on this one however if you really want to accomplish this all you need to do is use ddinsert, when the dialog box comes up, down in the right hand corner there is a box that says explode select this and when the block is imported it will be ready to edit.

 

[cfee]

The earlier posts about binding are really good.I can go into why, but I won't here. If however you wish to maintain that "XREF RELATIONSHIP" there is really no substitute for opening another session of ACAD-14 (or another drawing if in 200x), making your edit there and running the xref reload command in the first drawing to see the edit results. Believe me, if you've done a good job setting up your xref procedures and paths, using x-ref to manage these issues is a wonderful tool (especially in doing 3D assemblies using basic ACAD). If you get 200x, be sure to check out refedit. Powerful stuff. Also, a recent issue of either CADENCE or CADALYST had a decent article on managing the transfer of drawings constructed via xref, to a customer. You may not be doing that, but they cover some good points on managing x-ref drawings.
Good Luck!