change attribute text by color

Hello,

I'm running autocad 2014. I was wondering if there is a command that changes the attribute text by color without having to go into its properties and changing it to "by color" manually..I want to be able to do it to one block at a time without having to do it globally (leaving the other attributes with the same name alone). Is there a command that does this? Or would I need to find a lisp routine to do this?

Thanks, Jess

I would probably avoid this method. It is too easy to lose those color settings. If ATTSYNC is ever run on that block, you will lose the color overrides.

SETBYLAYER will allow you to chose which instances of the block to change the color to bylayer but it will do it for everything in the block. If that is not acceptable, it can probably be done with LISP.

how about changing the layer the attribute is on then. That way I could still have it set by layer.

Again, I would avoid anything that could be undone when ATTSYNC is run. Without actually knowing what you are trying to accomplish, may I suggest that you add another attribute to the block. A dynamic block may even suit your needs.

I could use a different block and drop them in instead. There are different blocks we have for that.....

What am I trying to accomplish? Example: I'll have 50 fire alarm devices in a drawing all facing different directions. Devices are red, attributes are cyan....Then I'm asked to make 20 existing (grey). Instead of dropping in an existing block for every one and having to rotate them all, I was hoping that with a command I could just select them and they would automatically change (attribute and all)....It's a minor thing I guess...To save time I've also cut and pasted the needed blocks onto a new drawing and changed the layer names to exx and pasted them back....That works pretty quick too to change colors..

For blocks with attributes, I typically use different blocks for existing or you could use my previous suggestion about adding another attribute to the block.

Again, that cut and paste method can be undone with ATTSYNC.

I very rarely use attsync...once drawings are done and they go out looking the way we want they rarely get touched or modified again...

Do it the way you like but just be forewarned. I wouldn't want to have my hard work so easily undone.

I understand..I know I'm trying to find a quick fix for something that could cause more problems later. But it's so rare that the drawings ever get touched again, I was willing to cheat to find a faster way of doing something. It's not a big deal anyways. It's not like it would have saved that much time anyways. Probably better that I just take the couple extra minutes and do it right. : )

Thanks, Jess

That's what developing good practices is all about. Do it right, even if it means a few extra minutes and probably wouldn't matter in the long run. That way when you are rushing on a project where it might matter, you know the correct way won't do it in a way that could cost you hours of having to redo all your hard work.