My drawings don't like change.

Hello everyone,

I have been having a serious problem with drawings 'changing themselves' lately. I am in charge of the prototype drawings at the firm I work at and need to update them on a regular basis. Many times I have to make the same change to each prototype. I have developed a checklist to make sure these changes get done and I always have a coworker double check my work once it is put on our server to make sure the changes were in fact made.

The problem is that later on the changes will be gone and the drawings will have reverted to an earlier state. For example, we have blocks for electrical symbols on our prototypes. We changed a few of the symbols a few months ago (and even did a few jobs with them) but when I opened them today, five of the six prototypes had changed back to the old symbols. The frustrating part is that we have no idea when or how this happens, so we cannot experiment to see what could be the cause.

Can anyone give me any advice? We have talked to our tech person and he assures us it cannot be the backup done on our server every night. I am at a total loss and this could potentially affect our relationship with our clients if changes they request keep getting undone.

We are currently running 2004 but will soon be going to 2008.

Thanks!

It sounds like the protype drawing files are being overwritten. The IT guy is lying to you.

OR....

You actually have TWO sets of the same files one older than the other. Did anyone verify how many prototype drawings there are and where ALL of them are located?

Did you also verify the paths to the files?

have you got a LISP (or similar) that is refreshing your blocks from a central store when you open the file?

I definitely don't have multiple copies of the same drawing. And also, I rename them (new date in title) every time I work on them. This doesn't just happen with blocks either; it can be anything.

Our IT guy is adamant that it isn't the nightly backup.

At this point, though, I won't rule out anything.

I'm unfamiliar with LISP, so I can't say for sure. Could you explain more, please?

Lisp is a programming language. In AutoCAD lisp routines can automate tasks like block insertion.