Delete CAD Import

[tonyisenhoff]

I think I already know the answer, but it there any way to delete a CAD import (or select all instances) when you don't know where it's at in the project? I don't want to go thru all the view in an attempt to find...

Reason is - it's been deleted in the view where we knew it was, but it still shows up in the Visibility/Graphics dialog box. I'm guessing it was copied to another view, but my team doesn't know where...

Any suggestions?

[Joef]

If it is linked, you can use Manage Links.

[chodosh]

And when it is simply an Import? What do you do then?
If anyone knows, I would also be really interested in hearing solutions to this. Tony, I share your trepidation of having to slog through the file to find each instance manually, what a nightmare.
Best,
LC

[cliff collins]

highlight, right-click, "select all instances"???

goodbye

better make sure you really want them all deleted


Cheers....

[chodosh]

Yep, but really not ideal. There should be a better way to keep track of imports in Revit other than simply reporting that they exist or don't exist. And while I would like to be able to always advocate using Detail Components before direct Imports, there is always a case to be made to the contrary.
LC

[Matt H]

Yes i agree. I should keep track on what views have imports...

But to totally delete the Import, it has to be deleted from every view its in.

[cdetore]

One way to control the location of linked or imported CAD files is to place it, select it and create a group from it. If you placed it in a single view (Current view only option) it will become a detail group. If it was visible in all views, it will become a model group. You can then place the file by creating instances from the project browser.

As a model group it will show up in all views (such as 3D views) like any model object. Detail group files will only be visible in the view they are placed into (note that they will not show up in 3D views). V/G can turn them on or off for display in your view.

The Link Manager will allow you to load/unload and remove the ones placed as links.

In both cases you can use the group list in the project browser to select, delete or even swap them out with another group (only of the same type; model or detail). If you can't delete it there must be an instance placed somewhere in the file. Use select all instances, and then delete. What's nice is that the instances will be deleted, but your linked/imported file is still in its group and you can place it again later from the project browser.

I have not had much success using the "link" option on a model group, but I'm still testing it.

Enjoy,

CD

[Steve_Stafford]

...I think I already know the answer...yes you do... That's why I've asked for the dwg links to be listed in the project browser just as they added the Revit Links. This way any linked dwg should be listed regardless of status, linked or not. I believe they intended to do this but didn't have sufficient time to do it and the Revit links as well. It would also be good if Manage Links managed "imports"...one stop shopping including images since raster image manager does sooo much.

[chodosh]

....It would also be good if Manage Links managed "imports"...one stop shopping...
So, you haven't heard if and when this could possibly become a reality? I noticed that you didn't say I was crazy this time for wishing for more...


One way to control the location of linked or imported CAD files is to place it, select it and create a group from it.

Hrmmm... I see where you're going with that idea, but I have to say that from my own [bad] experiences with Detail Groups composed of DWG Imports and/or Imported Linework that avoiding this practice of grouping Imported DWG's, especially in elevation and section views, seems to keep the bugs at bay...

I prefer instead to Import into a Detail Component, then it is manageable in the Project Browser after the DC is loaded.

CAD Links are a conversation for another thread.

Best,
LC

[hand471037]

Can't you re-import the same DWG into a view, then pick it and right-click to 'select all instances' and then delete it and the other one you can't find together?

I remember doing something along these lines a few years back when faced with the same problem.

[Steve_Stafford]

Nope...doesn't work Revit tags a (2) to the new import and you can't switch to the other to select all instances.

[dbaldacchino]

I've run across this and when re-importing (actually in my case, it was a link), Revit just renamed the new link; ex: filename(2).dwg. We could never find the link in the manage links dialog, yet it still showed up in each view's V/G (that's a well known issue) even though it didn't exist. We just learned to live with it in the project :(

[tonyisenhoff]

Thanks for all the comments!

We're going to focus more on linking instead of importing, but I do like the "group" idea. I may experiment more with that... Even with linking (CAD), you can copy/paste and get copies floating around the model...

For those of you that suggest "Select all instances", that would work if I knew where at least one instance was!!! That was the point of my question.

[truevis]

...We're going to focus more on linking instead of importing,....Isn't DWG linking (still) something we should try to avoid because of the performance hit it causes?

Suggested trick to try to find lost DWG (untried):

Copy RVT to dummy name/disconnect from central.
Delete views until lost DWG disappears from visibility/graphics list.
Then you'll know which view was the culprit, eh?

[dbaldacchino]

That could work, but in my experience of this issue, sometimes the name sticks even though it doesn't reside in a view/project at all!

[matthewh.104177]

I think you're right that the name sometimes sticks even though all instances are gone. I was using the purge command one time and a Topo.dwg was listed under families, which seemed odd to me. It had three dwg's listed under it as types which I purged. It wouldn't let me do that if there were instances being used, correct? That got rid of those several mysterious dwg's in the view settings but I still have some that I can't find or purge.

[truevis]

I had the same experience as matthewh.104177 today.

I wanted to make a new project from an old one.

Old projects with tons of DWGs, deleted every view (maybe I missed some), purged, and there were still DWGs in the visibility/graphics dialog. I left the 4 elevations -- must have been in there... Gave up and started from scratch.

Sure would be nice if there was another way to get to those DWGs. API, anyone?

[etornberg]

I was able to use matthewh.104177's approach - after very carefully deleting imports from all views, was able to use purge command to get rid of dozens of hiding imports from old jobs - 100%. They were all nested under a single dwg.

Don't forget that some imports may be on sheets or titleblocks, or nested in groups etc.

Thanks for that great tip.

[j_starko]

Can't you re-import the same DWG into a view, then pick it and right-click to 'select all instances' and then delete it and the other one you can't find together?

I remember doing something along these lines a few years back when faced with the same problem.

i'm trying this and with little success .

Does anyone know any other ways ?

[mmodernc]

looks like i will only be linking in future unless i want to explode

[Wes Macaulay]

Meh -- I tried deleting all the plan and RCP views, and the DWG was still there :-(

So who knows where it is

[truevis]

http://www.revittools.info/has an API utility that does it very nicely. It really should be built into Revit.

[johk]

I had a similar problem http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=77886

Below find a qoute from Scott W.
"I have been told by some of the insiders at the Factory, that if you partially, or completely explode an AutoCAD file, there is no way to clear, purge, or eliminate the original AutoCAD file defition from the"

jonas

[Scott Womack]

That could work, but in my experience of this issue, sometimes the name sticks even though it doesn't reside in a view/project at all!

There does not seem to be a substitute for manually checking every viewport for the DWG.

I've been told by people at the Factory that this is an issue. Heaven forbid a user actually explodes one of these imports. I have been told that once exploded, the definition of the DWG is no longer accessible, and its size is permanently added to that project.

[ppaige]

I found one method that seems to have worked for me. Someone on our team imported a couple of CAD drawings which were subsequently torn into little bits to construct wall sections. When I deleted all the instances of the drawings I could find, they still appeared in the V/G list.

So I undid the deletion, selected one instance and went to "Delete Layers." I selected all the layers, and the import was completely annihilated. Ah, order from chaos. *warm fuzzies*

[dbaldacchino]

Unfortunately we discover the issue long after the deletion :)

Anyway, next time I see this I'll try getting an indentically named dwg back in the project and try your method.