Always start with a Civil 3D template (dwt).

Always start with a Civil 3D template (dwt). Do not use the standard acad.dwt that is set as the default for QNew when shipped.Unless of course you save a Civil 3D.dwt or dwg as acad.dwt.

Good Idea - but sometimes I get files from surveyors or other engrs that don't have my styles.....is there as EASY way to transfer ALL styles from one drawing to another?
Maybe I just don't understand it, but using design center doesn't seem to enable transfer of all styles...you have to expand the tree, choose them one at a time, etc.

You're going to really like this one, as I did when I found it out, but it is one of those "why did I not find this out before now" tips. You can take a blank dwg with your styles in it, insert it as a block and that will bring them in. I have had some trouble with the larger files, but the Autodesk _NCS dwt or something around the same size 500Kb works good for me. If I try one around 1Mg I'm crashing most likely.
Enjoy

Thats brillant, Thanks!

Wow, i remember when you had to do this with regular cad dwgs that we setup as templates before the .dwt existed.... funny how that still works. That however is somewhat of a boondoggle though, because on one hand it's great that it brings everything in... but it's bad that it brings everything in. If you have some blown up stuff in a drawing and you insert it into your nice drawing, you're in a world of hurt and cleanup on aisle 9 takes days.

I started using the CAD standard tools that are built into AutoCAD. I just copy and past the drawing from the surveyor and use the tools to step through the layers, textstyles, etc. Can have a cleaned up ready to go base file within a hour. As long as the surveyor doesn't put half of the line work on layer "MISC" :|

Actually starting ones company template is best done using the acad.dwt in this fashion one need not purge out unwanted styles, and all the the styles are exactly as you create them without any vestiges left over from the autodesk supplied templates. It also makes it easy to know what items you have create styles for and which ones are still the Out of the box Standard style(s).
Yes it's a bit more work. In the end you'll have more control over your styles and a greater understanding of how and why they produce the results they do this way.