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How to Select Unselectable Text
Tip# 3205 By Robert Zipprich On 31-May-2009
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Rated By 1 users
Categories : Find Text
Software type : AutoCAD 2009
Rename File To : No Files to download.
Using Qtext, turn on frames and then do a Regenall. Frames will appear around text entities.

Designer Robert Zipprich sends a method to deal with text that you can’t see or even select. "The Burst command from the Express Tools family (Explode Attributes to Text) has a bug that I wanted to make your readers aware of. After using Burst, a block with attributes has all its attribute definitions changed to text entities -- even the empty ones.

"This leaves empty text entities in the drawing which are not normally visible. Using Qtext, turn on frames and then do a Regenall. Frames will appear around text entities, and you will be able to see these “empty” text entities and delete them."

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Patrol: It’s true. While the Burst command can serve you better in certain cases than the Explode command, it will convert empty attributed text objects to text objects that are there but can’t be selected. Follow Robert’s directions and turn on the Qtext setting. This will change the drawing’s text objects so that they display as rectangles instead of the characters. The empty text objects turn up to be dots, or very small boxes. The good news is that you can select them and delete them if you don’t want them. When done, turn off the Qtext setting.

 

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User comments
Comment by Seslar,Dave
Posted on 2009-06-01 16:48:01
This Qtext method requires a visual search-and-destroy to find and remove the offenders which can be easy to miss in a big drawing. I use the following method - create backup copy of drawing file - thaw, turn on and unlock all layers - zoom extents & regen - use 'List' command, select "all" and remove all selectable items with a full screen "window crossing" - skim listed items to make sure that nothing you want is selected for listing - after reviewing items with List, use 'Erase" command with "previous" to remove untouchable junk objects (blank text/mtext, empty blocks, etc. - restore previous layer state.