All objects on one layer

hello,

im fairly new to using Auotcad and I am having an issue with a drawing that was sent to me. All the items are on one layer and i need to seperate them, i had to xref the drawing but i opened the original to double check and even there the objects are all on the same layer. i read some other forums, and think it might have to do with binding? can someone please let me know how to fix this!

thanks!

I've heard about such things but never actually seen one. What you have is a drawing created by someone who doesn't know how to use AutoCAD properly. Putting everything on one layer defeats the purpose of having layers at all, which is to divide objects into logical groups.

You can bind the drawing, or you can insert it as a file. Both give you the same result--the other drawing becomes a block in your drawing. That doesn't help with the layering issue.

Your best bet might be to have your source go through that drawing and put objects on the proper layers, e.g. walls, windows, doors. If that won't work, you'll have to do the work yourself. Sorry, there is no simple way to do it.

Welcome to the club.

It sounds like the real problem was the absence of binding.

The person who drew it should have been bound and instructed to stay away from the Autocad!

I am having a very hard time imagining a situation where there might be justification for everything in a drawing to be on one layer.

I'm sure there must be, but I've never come across one.

Hard to say what you should do without seeing the drawing, or knowing a lot more about it.

What is it a drawing of?

Office furniture!

ive uploaded a photo of the drawing once i select just one item, the whole drawing highlights. i assumed it meant it was all on one layer...

In the photo, everything appears to be on different layers (the different colors is why I assume) but is still a block or an external reference.

Have you opened the LAYER MANAGER to see if there are layers?

There must be, and this is a block.

Have you tried exploding it, or a copy of it?

i have opened the manager there are alot of different layers (i assumed it was all on one because i tried to move the desks only to a different layer and it moved the whole drawing). Explode Worked in the original file but when i xref it, it turns into one block again. i need to xref because my clients drawing is not to scale? (not sure if thats the right term!)

Oh, wait. If you select an xref, the whole thing highlights, true. That means the reference is on one layer. The objects in the referenced drawing aren't necessarily on one layer.

If you check your layer manager, you'll see a list of layers preceded by the name of the other drawing. Those are in the xref. The other names, without the prefix, are in the current drawing.

If you put the drawing as an xref, it is an external reference (an image of the original file). The only way to modify an xref is to modify the original drawing. If what you want is to have all the objects seperate, I propose to insert or copy the original block and then Explode it instead of using xref. If your problem is regarding scale, you can re-scale the block directly before exploding it.

i checked, and i do see some layers with the original file name and others without it. but i still have the same problem how do i seperate all the objects?

Could you go into detail about what you mean when you write "how do I separate all the objects?" Separate them into different drawings, or move them in the file, or freeze certain layers so they don't show, etc?

I think it's a block or xref. If so, the solution is to edit the source.... or explode it so the objects can be edited/selected individually.