Deleting Layers

Im using autocad-lt 2009 and currently working on a drawing that has 3 other drawings xref 'd into.

I have created new layers and to avoid confusion i tried to delete/purge some of the old layers i dont need.

I cant seem to delete/purge the old layers because they are active/in use, i haved looked everywhere model and paper space to find these old layer.. cant find them.

The xref layers all start with X so the old layers cant be part of those blocks and finally i have exploded everything (not xref 'd) to try an find the old layers.. still cant find them.

How do i go about finding these old layers that are still in use/active so i can change the layer and delete it?

Do you know anyone running the full version of AutoCAD? They could try the Layer Delete command previously found under Express Tools. I think in newer versions of AutoCAD it can be found under Format > Layer Tools. And you are sure these three layers do not contain anything related to the xreffed drawings?

are all the layers thawed and on?

Try QSELECT and choose everything on those layers, pull up Properties menu to see if something is selected

Thaw/off all other layers but those offending ones and see if you find anything.

Do you know anyone running the full version of AutoCAD? They could try the Layer Delete command previously found under Express Tools. I think in newer versions of AutoCAD it can be found under Format > Layer Tools. And you are sure these three layers do not contain anything related to the xreffed drawings?

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I am pretty sure the layers i want to delete are not related to the xreffed drawings, since the layers dont start with the letter X.

Learnt something new today (Format > Layer Tools > Delete Layer) but there is nothing to delete because i cant find what i want to delete.

I switched all the layers off, except the one i wanted to delete to find what was in that layer, i can not find anything in paper or model space.

Where else can it be? (i already exploded all the blocks to check if it was part of any block)

You can WBlock everything that is visible and insert it into a new drawing. That should do the trick.

Maybe there is some zero length geometry and/or empty text objects on the three layers. These items can be purged.

are all the layers thawed and on?

 

Try QSELECT and choose everything on those layers, pull up Properties menu to see if something is selected

 

Thaw/off all other layers but those offending ones and see if you find anything.

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All layers are thawed and on - i still cant seem to find what needs deleting to delete the layer.

I tried QSELECT but again i cant find what needs deleting to delete the layer.

What else can i try?

 

Learnt something new today (Format > Layer Tools > Delete Layer) but there is nothing to delete because i cant find what i want to delete.

when you start that command you get the prompt: Select object on layer to delete or [Name]:

If you type N for name, you should get a list of all your layers and there you can select the layers you want to delete. hold down Ctrl to select more than one.

Is there a way of making layers permanent so that they cannot be deleted at all?

Could that be the problem?

Any layer can be deleted given the right set of tools. Part of your problem is the fact you're working in LT. You can't bring out the 'big guns' (i.e. - Lisp) to blast the layer(s) out of there.

Any layer can be deleted given the right set of tools. Part of your problem is the fact you're working in LT. You can't bring out the 'big guns' (i.e. - Lisp) to blast the layer(s) out of there.

From Chandni's description, LAYDEL is now a part of AutoCAD full.

And no, layers can't be made non-deletable as far as I know. But since you have to invoke a special command (that also comes with a warning that layers will be permanently deleted) to delete layers that are in use - this is hopefully not a big problem.

when you start that command you get the prompt: Select object on layer to delete or [Name]:

 

If you type N for name, you should get a list of all your layers and there you can select the layers you want to delete. hold down Ctrl to select more than one.

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Thank you..

I can now work out whether items in a layer, i want to delete, are in a block or individual.

But now if i delete the layer, items in that layer are deleted.. is there any way i can find out what is being deleted?

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Thank you..

 

I can now work out whether items in a layer, i want to delete, are in a block or individual.

 

But now if i delete the layer, items in that layer are deleted.. is there any way i can find out what is being deleted?

yes, everything on that layer as well as the layer itself will be deleted.

I don't know of a way to find out what is being deleted. But if you have gone through all the steps to find out what was on that layer and find nothing, then I would assume it's nothing that you need that is being deleted.

If you really are worried about what is on the layer and if that is needed - then don't delete the layers. Unless we're talking hundreds of layers, it won't relaly affect the performance in AutoCAD.

You can WBlock everything that is visible and insert it into a new drawing. That should do the trick.

 

Maybe there is some zero length geometry and/or empty text objects on the three layers. These items can be purged.

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Tried this, the layers i want to delete are also getting copied.. but now i know for sure the layers have items which should be somewhere on model space.

I have hundreds of drawings to get through.. every single one has other drawings xreffed into it...

Can't copy xrefs using WBlock

yes, everything on that layer as well as the layer itself will be deleted.

 

I don't know of a way to find out what is being deleted. But if you have gone through all the steps to find out what was on that layer and find nothing, then I would assume it's nothing that you need that is being deleted.

 

If you really are worried about what is on the layer and if that is needed - then don't delete the layers. Unless we're talking hundreds of layers, it won't relaly affect the performance in AutoCAD.

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its not so much reasons of Autocad performance i want to delete the layers... its actually to avoid confusion, when the drawings are passed on.

there are alot of layers, especially if you include all the xreffed layers (current drawing has 277 layers)

Tiger:The OP's profile says he is using LT 2009. I wasn't aware that it included a LAYDEL command. Does it?

Chandni: Are you using layer filters at all?

Tiger:The OP's profile says he is using LT 2009. I wasn't aware that it included a LAYDEL command. Does it?

 

Chandni: Are you using layer filters at all?

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LT does include LAYDEL and Layer Filters

Thank you for educating me re: LT and the LAYDEL command.

Layer Filters.

Open the Layer Properties Manager dialog box. Are there any layer filters designated?

Basically there are two drawings:

1) Current drawing inc xref

2) Original drawing where the xref has been extracted from

There are no filters in drawing 1 except the xrefs

In drawing 2 there's

+ all used layers

+ unreconciled new layers

+ xref

I am not using any filters.

277 layers? Jeez, the file with the most layers I ever worked on had 60.

So you cannot see anything on the layers you want to delete? That's OK. Switch to one of those layers and draw a line. Now switch to any other layer. Use the LAYDEL command and try to delete the layer you just drew the line on. Does the layer get deleted or not?