Inadverdently selecting dimension nodes

[vrphillips]

With the drawings we make in our industry, we routinely and repeatedly copy drawing objects that have already been dimensioned. At the small scales we often work in, it requires a tight zoom to select the objects to be copied or ctrl-c'd to another tab or another drawing. The issue is that, in that small zoom window, I will use a window to grab what I need, and most of the time the dimension(s) for that object gets selected, too. The window is small enough that the dimension is far, far outside of view, so only one node is within the selection window, even if it is not readily visible. Even if part of the extension line is visible, it does not highlight like the other objects. It is not until you zoom out again that you realize you have one or more dims that you did not want to copy, merely because one node fell within the object selection window. Is there no way to avoid this? I do not use NODE as a running osnap, nor is it practical (or reasonable, IMO) to continually turn the dim layer on and off, or lock it. As views and details are added and/or changed, the dimensions as well as the objects they are associated with are moved around. DIMASSOC is set to (1), legacy style association.

It seems as though there should be a setting or variable or something to control this. It has been happening with several releases of AutoCAD. Searching these forums and the rest of the internet has not been helpful. Have I missed something? It seems counterintuitive to me that merely selecting a single node on a single origin of a dimension should select the whole dimension.

[cadtag]

<snip> It seems counterintuitive to me that merely selecting a single node on a single origin of a dimension should select the whole dimension.

Not counterintuitive when you realize that the dimension is one object. Sorta like selecting one line in a block, or one letter in a piece of MText.

But -- to avoid your problem, might I suggest LOCKing the layer the DIMS are on unless actually doing dimensioning. Or use DIMs in PSpace..