While teaching a class at Ideate in Seattle, a question came up regarding the Layers that are displayed in the dropdown list in the Layers panel of the Ribbon.
You may have encountered a situation where the layer drop down list does not display all of the layers in your drawing. This is typically caused by the Layer Filter that you have applied to your Layer Manager. An example of this would be a drawing that includes External References. When External References are attached, an automatic XREF filter is created by the Layer Manager.
Selecting the XREF filter sorts the layer list so it only displays the layers found in the XREF files.
Exiting the Layer Manager with the XREF filter list current leads to the same filter being applied to the drop down list in the Layer panel. Besides the current layer, only XREF layers will be displayed.
This can easily be avoided by verifying that all layers are displayed in the Layer Manager before going back to your drawing. If you prefer that the layer filter not be applied to the layer drop down list, that option can be found in the Settings of the Layer Manager.
To access this setting, click on the Wrench icon at the top right of the Layer Manager, and check or un-check the box for “Apply Layer Filter to Layer Toolbar.”
*In the standard version of AutoCAD, Settings can be accessed by clicking on the Settings button at the bottom left of the Layer Properties Manager window.
*In the standard version of AutoCAD, Settings can be accessed by clicking on the Settings button at the bottom left of the Layer Properties Manager window.
If the box is checked, the current filter is applied to the toolbar. If un-checked, the toolbar will display all layers in the drawing, regardless of the filter that has been applied.
Infrastructure Solutions Application Specialist
Matt is a licensed Civil Engineer in the state of Hawaii. Matt obtained a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and has 7 years of private sector design experience which he applies in his role as an application specialist with Ideate, Inc. His project experience includes residential and commercial site development, private and public sewer, water and drainage systems, harbors improvements, and roadway improvements. While in Hawaii, Matt was involved in multidisciplinary projects for City and County agencies, State Departments, the Army COE and private developers. @MattM_PE
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