Xrefs

The Xref Manager (Ctrl+3) lets you view and manage external references (xrefs) across multiple drawings. It has two views, switched with the Definitions / Instances toggle above the table:

Definitions: one row per attached xref per file. Edit names, paths, load state and type, attach new xrefs or detach existing ones.
Instances: one row per placed instance of an xref. Edit placement (position, scale, rotation), layer, layout and draw order, duplicate instances, or delete individual instances without detaching.

Changes from both views are saved together in one batch when you click Save.

Definitions view

Column	Editable	Description
File	No	Source DWG filename
Name	Yes	Xref name
Status	No	Whether the xref file can be found
Load/Unload	Yes	Loaded or Unloaded
Type	Yes	Overlay or Attached
Path	Yes	Current xref file path
Saved Path	No	The resolved absolute path of the xref

Nested xrefs (xrefs inside an attached xref) are shown as parent \ child and are read-only.

Path Conversion

The toolbar provides two path conversion buttons that operate on the selected cells:

Make path absolute: Converts relative xref paths to absolute paths.
Make path relative: Converts absolute xref paths to relative paths based on the host DWG’s location.

The conversion updates the Path column in the table. Click Save to write the new paths into the drawings.

Adding and Removing Xrefs

Use the Add xref (paperclip) toolbar button to attach one or more DWG files to the files selected in the file list. The attach dialog covers reference type, path type, placement, and the target layer/layout.

Toggle remove xref marks selected rows for deletion (click again to unmark). Both kinds of change are applied when you save.

Attaching also immediately adds matching rows in the Instances view, where you can fine-tune each new instance’s placement before saving. Detaching removes all of the xref’s instances, and the Instances view shows them as deleted while the definition is marked.

For the full walkthrough with the dialog explained, see Adding & Removing Xrefs.

Instances view

Every placed instance of every xref, grouped by file. An xref attached once can be placed several times in a drawing, and each placement is its own row.

Column	Editable	Description
File	No	Source DWG filename
Name	No	Xref name
Layout	Yes	The layout (model or paper space) the instance is placed in
Order	Yes	Draw order among the xrefs in the same layout (1 = bottom/drawn first)
Layer	Yes	The layer the instance is inserted on
X / Y / Z	Yes	Insertion point
Scale X / Y / Z	Yes	Scale factors
Rotation	Yes	Rotation in degrees

Draw Order

The Draw order column ranks the xref instances within each file/layout relative to each other, while other entities in the drawing keep their positions. Type new numbers to rearrange. Ties keep their current relative order. Use it to batch-fix xrefs that cover your drawings: set the background reference to 1 across all files in one edit.

Moving, Duplicating and Deleting

Layout: pick a different layout from the dropdown to move the instance there. The moved instance lands on top of the target layout’s draw order (the Draw order cell clears until after the save).
Duplicate instance (copy icon): duplicates the selected instance rows (same xref, layout, layer, scale and rotation) so you can place another copy by editing its X/Y. New copies land on top of the draw order.
Toggle remove instance (trash icon): marks the selected instance rows for deletion. Deleting an instance does not detach the xref. Its definition stays attached even with no placements left. To detach, use the Definitions view.

Button	Action
Save	Write all xref changes (definitions and instances) back to DWG files
Stop	Cancel an in-progress save operation
Undo	Revert changes in selected cells
Find/Replace	Find and replace in selected cells
Duplicate instance	Duplicate the selected instance rows
Toggle remove instance	Mark/unmark selected instance rows for deletion

Filtering and Sorting

Sort by clicking a column header, and filter via the dropdown arrow on any header. See Filter and Sort for how table filtering works.

Button	Action
Save	Write all xref changes (definitions and instances) back to DWG files
Stop	Cancel an in-progress save operation
Undo	Revert changes in selected cells
Find/Replace	Find and replace in selected cells
Make path absolute	Convert selected xref paths to absolute
Make path relative	Convert selected xref paths to relative
Add xref	Attach new xrefs to the selected files
Toggle remove xref	Mark/unmark selected xref rows for deletion (detach)