Using Attributes - Mastering AutoCAD for Mac - page 379

Making Global Changes to Attribute Values
At times, you'll want to change the value of several attributes in a file so they're all the same value.
You can use the Edit Multiple Attributes option to make global changes to attribute values.
Suppose you decide you want to change all the entry doors to a type designated as B rather
than A. Perhaps door type A was an input error or type B happens to be better suited for an
entry door. The following exercise demonstrates how this is done:
1. Type V ↵ R ↵ FOURTH ↵. This restores a saved view in the drawing called Fourth. (Views
are covered in Chapter 7, “Mastering Viewing Tools, Hatches, and External References.”)
Pan your view down so you can see the eight door-reference symbols for this view.
2. Click Multiple from the Edit Attribute flyout on the Tool Sets palette, or type -ATTEDIT ↵
at the Command prompt. (Alternatively, you can type in -ATE .) Make sure you include
the hyphen at the beginning.
3. At the Edit Attributes one at a time? [Yes/No] <Y>: prompt, enter N ↵ for No.
You see the message Performing global editing of attribute values. This tells
you that you're in Global Edit mode.
4. At the Edit only attributes visible on screen? [Yes/No] <Y>: prompt, press ↵.
As you can see from this prompt, you have the option to edit all attributes, including those
out of the view area. You'll get a chance to work with this option in the next exercise.
5. At the Enter block name specification <*>: prompt, press ↵. Optionally, you can
enter a block name to narrow the selection to specific blocks.
6. At the Enter attribute tag specification <*>: prompt, press ↵. Optionally, you can
enter an attribute tag name to narrow your selection to specific tags.
7. At the Enter attribute value specification <*>: prompt, press ↵. Optionally, you
can narrow your selection to attributes containing specific values.
8. At the Select Attributes: prompt, select the door-type symbol's attribute value for
units 103 to 115. You can use a window to select the attributes if you prefer. Press ↵ when
you've finished your selection.
9. At the Enter string to change: prompt, enter A ↵.
10. At the Enter new string: prompt, enter B ↵. The door-type symbols all change to the
new value.
In step 8, you were asked to select the attributes to be edited. AutoCAD limits the changes
to those attributes you select. If you know you need to change every attribute in your drawing,
you can do so by answering the series of prompts in a slightly different way, as in the following
exercise:
1. Try the same procedure again, but this time enter N for the first prompt and N again at
the Edit only attributes visible on screen? [Yes/No] <Y>: prompt (step 4 in the
previous exercise). The message Drawing must be regenerated afterwards appears.
2. Once again, you're prompted for the block name, the tag, and the value (steps 5, 6, and 7
in the previous exercise). Respond to these prompts as you did earlier.