Unable to delete layers

[KeesW]

I have a large project containing layers created from a surveyor's autocad drawing. This drawing was imported into my AC14 drawing because I used the survey for creating my site contours. I am now unable delete any of these layers.

Any suggestions?

[Csaba Kezer]

Hello guys,
We examined your problems. Unfortunately the program has been designed this way to separate the Xref from the project which results in a few difficulties when managing this.
We issued a report about this problem to the developer team.

The main principle to avoid these issues is to manage (detach) the xrefs through the xref manager before deleting or manipulating anything.

Regards,
Csaba

[Da3dalus]

Thank you, Csaba. It makes sense.

However, one thing I would be concerned about is people who only use ArchiCAD. We are fortunate to have a station of AutoCAD in our office, and I have lots of experience. However, some may not have access to AutoCAD, and may not even understand how Xrefs work. Based on this, it would be helpful for ArchiCAD to provide more information in linked DWGs, such as a warning about embedded Xrefs.

For these issues, I would recommend to anyone that works with DWG files regularly that they should get a DWG-native CAD program. AutoCAD is about $4000, and even AutoCAD LT is about $1000, so that's not always an option. I generally use Draftsight for editing and eDrawings for quick viewing (both from Dassault, maker of Catia and Solidworks), especially since I use a Mac… and they're FREE! That's quicker for me most of the time than tracking down AutoCAD.

I'd be curious to see what other programs people might use for checking DWGs.

[Csaba Kezer]

Here is a detailed article about the use of Xref DWG-s in ArchiCAD what you might haven't come across: www.archicadwiki.com/DWG/Import/Xref