Inserting an External Reference Drawing

This Tech Tip explains how to insert an external reference drawing (xref).

We will show you how to insert a external title block drawing into an existing drawing.

Selecting the External Drawing

Tools menu > Xref Manager

Click on Add button.

Browse to the folder where the drawing you would like to add as xref is stored, select the drawing and then click on the Open button.

The selected drawing will appear in the External Drawing References dialog. Additional drawings may be added by following the same procedure.

Once the drawings(s) have been added, click on the Close button to continue.

Inserting the External Drawing

Insert Menu > External Reference...

AllyCAD prompts "indicate xref insertion point" There are also options to select Xref, change angle and scale (x,y,z).

In this example the inserted drawing needs to be scaled down, as the title block is A0, and the drawing is A3, we specify a x and y scale of 0.35. (A0 841x1189, A3 297x420, 297/841 = 0.35, 420/1189 = 0.35)

Original drawing with the xref added.

Unloading the External Drawing

To unload the xref, Tools Menu > Xref Manager

Click on the Unload button.

The xref will will be unloaded.

If you want the xref to be part of the drawing, click on the Bind button. The xref will bound into the drawing.