How to Recreate an AutoCAD Drawing

Issue

The drawing has become corrupt and keeps crashing, even after running the AutoCAD PURGE and AUDIT commands.

Solution

In this instance, it may be simpler to recreate the drawing using the following simple steps:

  1. With the problem drawing open, open the Layer Properties Manager and open the Layer States Manager
  2. Click [New] to create a new layer state, giving this a unique name
  3. Click [Save] and [Export] saving the new layer state settings as a *.LAS file. Close the Layer States Manager
  4. In the Layer dialog, turn on, thaw and unlock all layers
  5. Return to the drawing Model view and select all objects in the drawing, using either the shortcut keys Ctrl+A or Edit > Select All
  6. Start New, blank drawing and enter PASTEORIG at the command line. This will paste everything into the new drawing based on their original coordinates
  7. In the New drawing, open the Layer States Manager from the Layer dialog. Pick [Import], navigating to and selecting the previously saved *.LAS file

Note - You may need to change the ‘Files of Type’ drop-down to Layer States *LAS to see the file

  1. Pick [Restore] to apply the layer states and return them to the same states as the old drawing. Close the dialog and return to the drawing
  2. With both the old and the new drawing open, type ADCENTER at the command line. This will open Design Centre
  3. With the "Open Drawings" tab selected, go to the old drawing and expand the Layouts folder
  4. Select all the layouts and drag and drop them into the new drawing and the new drawing, where they will appear.

Note - This won’t work if the layout names clash, so you may need to rename Layout1 and/or Layout2 in the new drawing beforehand