Frequent tipster Danny Korem sent in a tip on controlling the display color for layers that are referenced in an AutoCAD file.

"If your AutoCAD file has a bunch of cross-references attached to it, you might want to change all the xrefs' layers' colors to gray. That's when you use the filter at the left side of the Layer Manager. Whenever xrefs are attached, an xref filter is automatically added to the filter section. As a hierarchy tree, each attachment has its own branch, so if you select a specific xref, only its layers will be displayed in the list. But if you select the main xref section, all the xrefs' layers will be displayed altogether. If you press Ctrl+A, all the instances are selected and become highlighted. That's when a new neutral color can be selected in one row and immediately projected to the whole selection."

Notes from Cadalyst Tip Reviewer Brian Benton: This only works if the referenced file's objects are drawn set to ByLayer. If an object has a color override, the layer controls will not work. This is true for objects that are in your file, not just for referenced files. The Layer Manager is a powerful tool that can help you find layers, or group of layers. Use the filtering options to sort layers. Many files have a large amount of layers in them, which makes finding the proper layer difficult. Use the filters — they will help!