CAD detailer Steve Roberts shares some tips for keeping your AutoCAD files clean and neat.

"I like to clean up each and every AutoCAD drawing to reduce file size and make the files more healthy using these commands:

• Audit: This command will examine the drawing file, find errors, and allow you to fix them.
• Purge: This command will allow you to purge any unused styles, blocks, etc. Be certain that you — or your coworker — won’t need them later. When in doubt, don’t purge it out.
• -Purge: This is the Command line–only version of the Purge command; it's used in customized LISP and scripts.
• Overkill: This awesome and aptly named command looks for things like duplicated lines on top of lines and removes them.

I do this before sending the DWG to anyone, before creating the PDF file, and before my final save."

Notes from Cadalyst tip reviewer Brian Benton: Managing your files is very important. Due to the drawing creation process, our files often have "data bloat": They get more information in them than they need. Template files often have more layers, blocks, tabs, etc. than what we eventually need. But they contain information that we might need, so we put them in there. If they aren’t there and we need them we get upset. If they are there and we don’t need them, then no big deal.