Michael’s Corner

Michael's Corner is a monthly publication written by Michael E. Beall, Autodesk Authorized Author and peripatetic AutoCAD trainer. Michael travels all over the USA, bringing his fantastic experience and great understanding of AutoCAD to his clients. Michael's Corner brings together many of the tips, tricks and methods developed during these training sessions for the benefit of all users.

Michael's Corner provides something for every AutoCAD user. Every month, a number of articles cover a wide range of topics, suitable for users at all levels, including "The Basics" for those just starting out. Essentially, the aim of Michael's Corner is to help all AutoCAD users work smarter and faster.

This month…

From the Vault

Originally published November 2008

Updating an Existing Layer State

Layer states continue to be a popular topic of discussion in my training sessions around the country and I noticed that I have not previously covered how to update an existing layer state in a drawing. If you have, for example, saved a layer state named "Panel Plan" in which only the workstation panels are displayed, and then add electrical components, new layers have been introduced to the drawing and you need to update the Panel Plan layer state to include the duplexes and wire management.

Back in February 2007, I covered Layer States as they were in AutoCAD 2006 and the dialog box has remained unchanged since then, save for the fact that you may now access the Layer States Manager directly from the Layers toolbar, beginning with A2007.

Before beginning the following exercise, open a drawing and save a Layer State (see February 2007 if needed).

Instructions to Update a Layer State

1. After saving a layer state for the drawing, turn on additional layers, or add some symbols that introduce new layers to the drawing. In other words, make a modification to the drawing that involves the visibility of layers.
2. Launch the Layer States Manager, select the layer state you want to update, then click the Save button.
3. You will get an alert box regarding overwriting the selected layer state.
4. Click OK to overwrite that layer state and effectively include the newly added layers.

To confirm that your layer state has been saved, change the layer condition by turning on or off some additional layers. Now launch the Layer States Manager and double-click the edited layer state name (which essentially selects and Restores that layer state). If your drawing returns to the condition at which you saved the layer state, it worked!

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