Open a DWG, edit it and save a copy

What you will do

Open a DWG from a consultant, check what CadCraft could and could not show, add a note, plot a sheet to PDF and save a copy to send back, as DWG or DXF.

Open the file

1. Press ⌘OCtrl+O, or click Open.
2. Choose the .dwg file.

The status line shows "Reading …" while the drawing is read. When it is done, the drawing fills the screen, and the history says, for example, "Opened plan.dwg: 18,240 objects on 64 layers in 2310 ms."

Check what came in

1. Look at the Drawing section of the left panel: format and version, units, number of objects and layers, and sheets.
2. Read the "About this file" box under it, if there is one.

The box lists:

• Not shown yet: objects CadCraft cannot draw yet, by kind and count. They are left out, not guessed at.
• Layouts (sheets) came in: open them with the tabs under the drawing.
• Twisted viewports: shown square to the sheet.
• Splines converted to polylines, and dimensions that could only be read as drawn.

1. Click through the tabs under the drawing to see each sheet.
2. Check Units in Current settings (nothing selected, Model tab). If it says Unitless but you know the drawing is in millimeters, set it, so that sheet and plot scales read right.

Make your change

1. Make a layer for your notes: click New layer, type NOTES and press ReturnEnter.
2. Type T and press ReturnEnter.
3. Click where the note goes.
4. Type a text height that suits the drawing (see Add text and labels) and press ReturnEnter.
5. Press ReturnEnter to keep the rotation at 0.
6. Type your note and press ReturnEnter.
7. Press ReturnEnter again to finish.

Edits to imported dimensions are fine: as soon as you change one, CadCraft redraws it in its own style.

Plot a sheet for review

1. Click the sheet's tab.
2. Press ⌘PCtrl+P.
3. Click Download PDF.

See Plot to PDF.

Save a copy

1. Press ⌘SCtrl+S, or click Save.

You opened a DWG, so the browser downloads <name>.dwg. The history says, for example, "Saved a copy as Plan.dwg (DWG (AutoCAD 2000))." and lists, on the lines under it, anything that changed on the way.

1. Read those lines before you send the file. What a DWG keeps and changes explains each one.

Your original DWG is never changed. Every save is a new download.

Save as DWG or DXF

To choose the format yourself:

1. Press ⇧⌘SCtrl+Shift+S, or click Save as.

The Save a copy as dialog opens with two choices, each with the file name it will give: DWG (AutoCAD 2000) and DXF R12. The drawing's current format is already picked.

1. Click the format you want.
2. Click Save.

The copy downloads. From now on, ⌘SCtrl+S saves this drawing in that format, and new drawings start with it too, in this browser. Cancel or EscEsc saves nothing, and the history says "Not saved."

Which one to pick:

• DWG opens in AutoCAD 2000 and every later version, and in most other CAD programs. It keeps layer and block names as you typed them, and multi-line text as multi-line text. It does not keep sheets yet.
• DXF R12 opens in almost any CAD program. It keeps the first sheet with its viewports, and CadCraft's other sheets. It simplifies newer things, such as multi-line text and hatches.

What the other office will see

In a DWG:

• Lines, arcs, circles, ellipses, polylines, text, multi-line text, blocks with their attributes, solid fills and layers as you see them.
• Dimensions that look exactly the same, but are saved as unnamed blocks: the other program will not re-measure them when they are stretched.
• Patterned hatches as their outlines, and true colors as the nearest standard color.
• No sheets. The history says so, for example "The sheet "A1" was not saved: DWG saving keeps the model only for now. Save as DXF to keep the sheets." Send a PDF of each sheet as well, or save as DXF.

In a DXF R12:

• Lines, arcs, circles, polylines, text, block references and dimensions as you see them. Dimensions stay real dimensions.
• Layer names in capitals, with spaces turned into _.
• The first sheet as the drawing's paper space, with its viewports. Further sheets arrive as blocks named CCLAYOUT_1 and so on; if they need every sheet as a layout, plot PDFs of each sheet for them as well.
• Multi-line text as separate lines, ellipses as polylines, hatches as outlines.

Either way, anything listed as "Not shown yet" when you opened the DWG is not in the copy. Tell them, and send a PDF as well.

Common mistakes

• "CadCraft opens DWG and DXF drawings." The file has another extension. Check it is a .dwg or .dxf.
• "This drawing could not be read." The DWG is damaged or in a version the reader does not handle. Ask for a DXF, or for the DWG saved in an older version.
• "This is a binary DXF." Ask for, or save, a text (ASCII) DXF.
• The saved file is called name (1).dwg or name (1).dxf. The browser does that when a file with the same name is already in the folder.
• The DWG you sent back has no sheets. DWG saving keeps the model only for now. Press ⇧⌘SCtrl+Shift+S, choose DXF R12 and save again, or send a PDF of each sheet.
• They have an older program that cannot open the DWG. Save as DXF R12 instead: almost any CAD program opens it.
• Parts of the drawing are missing. Linked drawings (xrefs) and images are not loaded. Ask for them bound into the drawing.