Exploring Additional Xref Features

You have seen how you can modify an xref in the host or the original drawing and how to bring in images. A few other features of external references deserve mention.

Setting the Xref Path

When you attach an xref to the host drawing, AutoCAD stores the name of the xref and its path.

Each time you open the host drawing, AutoCAD searches for any xrefs saved with the host file and displays them in the host drawing. If the xref drawing is moved to a new folder after the xref has been attached to a host, AutoCAD won’t be able to find the xref or display it. To avoid that situation, you must update the host drawing with the new path to the xref file. Let’s go through a quick exercise to illustrate how this works: