Layers not being used

[michael256]

I have a drawing that has many layers in it. many of witch are not being used. Is there a way to quickly find out which layer are not being used in the drawing so i can delete them?

[nestly]

If a layer is truely not being used, it will be displayed as a layer that can be purged using the PURGE command.

[rkent]

Open the layer manager, the first column is Status, if it is grey it is not being used, if it has a color, mine is light blue, then it is being used. You can pick on the Status header and sort by used and not used.

[nestly]

Open the layer manager, the first column is Status, if it is grey it is not being used, if it has a color, mine is light blue, then it is being used. You can pick on the Status header and sort by used and not used.

I can't say for certain about AutoCad2010, but I believe that feature is disabled by default (ie all layers show light blue, whether they're used or not)
SHOWLAYERUSAGE = 1 via the command line, or the checkbox in the Layer Properties Options dialog box to enable it. I think it's "Off" by default because it's a resource hog.

[rkent]

I can't say for certain about AutoCad2010, but I believe that feature is disabled by default (ie all layers show light blue, whether they're used or not)
SHOWLAYERUSAGE = 1 via the command line, or the checkbox in the Layer Properties Options dialog box to enable it. I think it's "Off" by default because it's a resource hog.

2012 and 2013 it must be set to 1 by default because I don't have it set to 1 anywhere. Good to know it is a resource hog, I will turn it off and only back on for the times I need that, or just turn the column display off when not needed.

[ReMark]

Stubborn layers that just won't go away using the PURGE command can be deleted using Layer Delete found under Format > Layer Tools or via the command line using LAYDEL.

You could also use the Layer Merge command as well.

[nestly]

2012 and 2013 it must be set to 1 by default because I don't have it set to 1 anywhere. Good to know it is a resource hog, I will turn it off and only back on for the times I need that, or just turn the column display off when not needed.

The System Variable Editor ( SYSVDLG ) says the initial value for SHOWLAYERUSAGE is 0 (Off) in 2011 thru 2013, but it is turned ON in my 2013 and I don't recall changing it, so I'm not so sure about my previous statement now.