AutoCad Files (dwl. & bak.)

Hi,

Can somebody explain to me what is this file and is this file is important?

Does it effect my dwg. file if I delete those files?

Thanks.

The DWL-file appears when you open your drawing, and if all goes according to plan, it will be removed when you close your drawing. I usually say that it's a lock-file, but I have small memory that that is not the case, I'll see if I can find where I have that from.

The BAK-file is created when you save your drawing, and it will update every time you save your drawing. It is in fact a copy of your drawing from your second to last save. Example: You save your dwg once. You then save your dwg for the second time. The program then copies your drawing as it was at your first save to the BAK-file. You save your dwg a third time - the program copies your drawing as it was at the second save and updates the BAK-file with that. And so on. So the BAK-file is your saftey net.

You can remove the BAK-file and it won't affect your DWG. You can turn off the creation of BAK-files but I strongly recommend you keep it on.

You can remove DWL-files if you don't have the DWG open. I am not sure what would happen if you remove the DWL-file from a DWG that you currently have open though.

Again I'm not 100% sure of their exact purpose, but there are 2 files (.dwl & .dwl2) these are created as a temporary file to let Autocad know that someone has a drawing open, it has more use when you have different people with drawings on a network to stop 2 people opening the same drawing at the same time. If you open the .dwl file with windows notepad it will tell you who has the drawing open. When you close a drawing they are deleted automatically, sometimes when the system crashes they aren't removed and stay on the computer (these are safe to delete) if they are in use you won't be able to delete them anyway.

As a separate point I used to run a small program that kept a record of all the .dwl files to see who had which drawing open and for how long for the office manager.

The DWL-file appears when you open your drawing..... I usually say that it's a lock-file

.....there are 2 files (.dwl & .dwl2) these are created as a temporary file to let Autocad know that someone has a drawing open

DWL and DWL2 files are not lock files and they do not exist to let AutoCAD know that a drawing is open.

The operating system is 100% responsible for file locking.

DWL and DWL2 files are simple text files (the latter in XML format) that contain the hostname, username, and date - for the sole use of identification by the "Whohas" command.

THAT was the link I was looking for, I knew it was somehwere on CadPanacea but I couldn't find it earlier.