Angelina Roskam, a CADD technician, shares a tip that can help you manage AutoCAD’s wipeout objects.

"There are many times that I get a drawing from another user and find a piece missing or blocked out (this happens more commonly with an xref or PDF reference). When you use Wipeout on the Command line, the default is for a polyline, to select an area to 'hide' or wipe out from a drawing. However, if you select Frames when executing the command, the Off setting will turn the frame(s) off, and On will show the frame(s) and allow you to recover the area that has been wiped. This is useful for hiding an area you do not want to remove from a drawing or can’t remove from a PDF, and also handy when you are using another’s drawing and can’t see the frames for a wipeout area."

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Patrol: I used to hate wipeouts — that is, until I learned about the frames settings. I would come across "dead zones" of a drawing where nothing printed; they were wipeouts. When wipeout frames are turned off, you can’t manage, edit, or select a wipeout. Once their frames are turned on, you can see them and edit them. Keep in mind that wipeout frames are either all on or all off; you can’t turn some on while leaving others off. A good practice is to put all wipeouts on a non-printing layer and to leave the frames on. That way you can still manage them, but the frame won’t print.