Attributes and Fields

Make blocks carry information that changes from copy to copy, and text that fills itself in from the drawing — then extract it all to a spreadsheet as a schedule.

A plain block repeats the same geometry everywhere. Two features let a block carry information as well as shape:

  • An attribute is a slot a block carries that each copy fills in differently — a door's number, a title block's "drawn by".
  • A field is text that fills itself in from the drawing — the sheet number, the date it was saved, the scale. It stays correct when the thing it reports changes.

Between them, they are how a title block fills itself in on every sheet, and how a door schedule writes itself.

Prerequisites

Attributes

Defining one

  1. Draw the block's objects.
  2. Run Blocks ▸ Define Attribute (ATT) for each part that changes. Fill in its tag, prompt and default — Tab moves between the three fields, Enter accepts them.
  3. Click where it goes, exactly as you would place a piece of text.
  4. Make the objects and the attributes into a block with Create Block (BL).
The context bar while Define Attribute runs, with Tag, Prompt and Default fields filled in as DOOR_NO, Door number and D01, and the Invisible, Constant, Multiline and Default Field options

A time-saver: pressing Enter at the next position places the following attribute one line underneath, so a stack of them lays out quickly.

TermWhat it means
TagThe attribute's name — how it is identified, and the column heading when you extract it
PromptThe question you are asked when the block is placed
DefaultWhat the value starts out as

So a door block might have the tag DOOR_NO, the prompt "Door number", and the default D01.

Options

OptionKeyWhat it does
InvisibleVThe value is carried but not drawn — for data you only want in the schedule
ConstantCThe same on every copy, and never asked for
MultilineMThe value can run to several lines

Filling them in

Inserting the block asks for every value at once.

Afterwards:

  • Double-click a value to change it.
  • Drag its grip to move it clear of something it collides with.
  • Put Back, in the Properties panel, returns a value you moved to where the definition puts it.
💡 Workflow Guide: The whole round trip: Define Attribute taking the tag DOOR_NO, the prompt Door number and the default D01; placing it in the tag box; making box and attribute into a block called Door; then inserting that block again — the context bar asks Door number, and this insertion is given D02 while the first keeps D01. Sped up.

Extracting attributes to a schedule

This is where attributes pay for themselves.

Blocks ▸ Extract Attributes: tick the blocks and the tags you want, and save the CSV. Open it in any spreadsheet.

Count identical rows collapses matching values into one row with a count — which turns a drawing full of door blocks into a door schedule with quantities, without anybody counting anything by hand.

If you run it on a drawing with nothing to extract, it says so rather than opening an empty dialog: "No block in this drawing has attributes."

The Extract Attributes dialog: a Blocks list with Door (1 reference) ticked, a Columns list with the DOOR_NO tag ticked, the greyed Only the selected objects option, the Count identical rows option, a count of 1 row, and the Save CSV and Cancel buttons

Fields

A field is text the drawing keeps up to date for you. Type a sheet number by hand and it is wrong the moment sheets are renumbered. Put a field there and it is never wrong.

Annotate ▸ Field (FLD):

  1. Choose what it shows — Sheet name, Sheet number, Sheet count, File name, Date saved, Scale, or an attribute of a block reference.
  2. Choose its form — a date's format, or which scale.
  3. Click OK, then click where the text goes.

While typing any text, Insert Field… puts one inside what you are writing — so a note can read "Drawing 04 of 12" with both numbers maintained for you.

A field placed in a drawing, showing text that the drawing fills in and keeps up to date by itself The Field dialog listing Sheet name, Sheet number, Sheet count, File name, Date saved, Scale and Attribute as the available sources

Worked example: a title block that fills itself in

Both features together, in the order you would actually do it:

  1. Open a sheet, so you are working in paper millimetres, and draw the border and the fixed words.
  2. For anything the drawing already knows — the sheet's number, its name, the scale, the date — add a Field.
  3. For anything you type per sheet — the revision note, the checker's initials — add an attribute.
  4. Make the whole thing a block, and insert it on each sheet.

Every sheet then shows its own number, and renaming or adding sheets updates them all.

Save the drawing as a template (File ▸ Save as Template) and you keep that title block for future work. See Model Space and Sheets.

Attribute, field, or plain text?

UseWhen
FieldThe drawing already knows it — sheet number, date, file name, scale
AttributeIt differs from copy to copy and you want to type it, or collect it into a schedule — door numbers, room names, revision letters
Plain textIt never changes and never needs collecting — "NOT TO SCALE", a general note

Next Steps

Next: Styles and Annotation Scales

Working with Blocks

Define a named group of objects once and place it as often as you like — then change the definition and every copy follows. Create Block, Insert Block, Edit Block, layers, and exploding.

Styles and Annotation Scales

Control how text, dimensions and points look across a whole drawing with named styles, set the drawing scale so annotation prints the right size, and use annotative objects to suit several scales at once.

On this page

PrerequisitesAttributesDefining oneOptionsFilling them inExtracting attributes to a scheduleFieldsWorked example: a title block that fills itself inAttribute, field, or plain text?Next Steps