Quickly Redirect XREF Paths

Posted September 5, 2008 * Comments(14)

It’s happened to all of us. You receive a zipped up set of CAD files from someone, you open a layout drawing that contains XREFs, and all the XREF paths are broken. Well never fear, there is a lazy way to redirect all the XREF paths in a drawing. Here is how I make it happen.

The command is called “Redefine Path” (command: REDIR). It’s actually an Express Tools command that redirects any XREF path to a new location. When you type REDIR on the command line you will get this:

Enter old directory (use '*' for all), or ? <options>:

If you hit enter immediately, the options dialog box will appear.

NOTE: To access this box any other time, simply type REDIRMODE on the command line.

I usually leave all items checked in the REDIRMODE dialog box.

Back at the prompt…

Enter old directory (use '*' for all), or ? <options>:

Instead of typing an XREF path, simply type an asterisk (*) to specify all XREF paths. It will then prompt you with:

Replace "*" with:

Minimize AutoCAD and in Windows Explorer browse to the folder where the XREFs are stored. Highlight the path to the folder, right-click, and select Copy.

Back in AutoCAD, right-click on the command line, select Paste, and hit enter.

All XREF paths will now be redirected to the new location only if they are found in that folder. This is the beautiful thing about the REDIR command. If your XREFs or Images are stored in more than one folder, you can run REDIR more than once and it will redirect only the XREFs or Images that need to be redirected. If an XREF doesn’t exist in one of those folders, the path won’t be modified.

Have a good weekend!

14 Comments so far

  1. mramir on September 5th, 2008

    by far an excellent tip.. much easier than using reference manager!

  2. CadKicks.com on September 5th, 2008

    Quickly Redirect XREF Paths…

    You’ve been kicked (a good thing) – Trackback from CadKicks.com…

  3. Josh Jones on September 5th, 2008

    Thanks. I agree! It is much easier.

  4. klies on March 19th, 2009

    thx…very helpful. easier than xref manager

  5. Architectural Technologist – Autocad and Xrefs on August 4th, 2009

    [...] have had this problem of broken xref  links before when an engineer sends a load of drawings over, The lazy drafter has a good answer to this, its worth a read and follow up, to gain at least 1/2 hour solid [...]

  6. Auric on August 4th, 2009

    Great! Solved a huge problem. I have a project with hundreds of drawings all in xrefs. We just saved many hours and money!

  7. Roland Orzabal on August 4th, 2009

    Thanks for this Tip! Very easy and useful and clearly stated the instructions

  8. Phil on August 5th, 2009

    Unfortunately REDIR is another command not in LT!

  9. JGA on August 10th, 2009

    Thanks, that’s an excellent tip

  10. Bill Fane on September 14th, 2009

    The little-known PROJECTNAME system variable can also be very useful when XREF links get broken. Check out
    http://www.cadalyst.com/cad/autocad/who-knew-about-autocad-projects-learning-curve-autocad-tutorial-6380
     

  11. Mike B. on September 25th, 2009

    How is this different than opening each file and re-attaching the xref?  If you use REDIR you still need to open each file and browse to the new location of the xref then paste the path.  It would be nice if you could REDIR or re-attach the xref without opening each ACAD drawingS.

  12. Dean on January 31st, 2013

    how about other versions of auto-cad such as 2010,2011,2012,2013 in 2013 there is no commend DIRED nor REDIRMODE? can you check that and update your information on your blogs.
    thanks

  13. Josh Jones on January 31st, 2013

    I don’t have 2013 so I can’t test it at the moment. Anyone else know?

  14. Kevin on March 7th, 2013

    2013 you have to uninstall/change AutoCad and add your express tools, and then the command will work.

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