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!