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Symbols exported to DWG uneditable


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VWA 11.1 on Windows XP

I have exported a site drawing in DWG format with the building plan pasted as a symbol on the survey. My client says he can't copy and paste my drawing to another file, because the Floor Plan symbol doesn't paste. I assume that AutoCAD can't handle VW symbols, so I converted the symbol to a group and exported the file again.

Next time I'll try to remember to convert before exporting. But, my question is this: if DWG can't handle symbols, shouldn't the DWG export filter automatically convert them to Groups?

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In exporting from v10 to DWG, both Symbols and Groups become Autocad "Blocks". Symbols keep the name you gave them, and Groups are given a number. Blocks are more similar to Symbols. Autocad can't edit Blocks in the same way we can edit Symbols and Groups. The only thing one can do is Explode an instance of the Block, then edit those objects, and then select them all and redefine the Block (if you remember where the insertion point was), and then all instances of the block update to the new definition.

Autocad 2004 has a Group that's a lot like the VW Group. The objects within the Group can be edited at any time, but for copying and moving they're selected as one object. I think that's an improvement from the 2000 Group. So maybe in v11 VW Groups are exported as AC 2004 Groups. But it still wouldn't make sense to export VW Symbols as AC Groups. They should still export as Blocks, which, like Symbols, can have multiple instances which are all updated when the Block definition is changed.

I don't know what you mean by "the Floor Plan symbol", and I don't understand why your client can't work with it. VW Symbols converted to AC Blocks can be worked with in the same way as any other Blocks.

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