Drawings (DWG) increase in file size and performance degrades in AutoCAD products

Autodesk Support

Nov 11, 2024

Products and versions covered

Drawing files in AutoCAD products end up being much larger than they should, often with no obvious data in them. Other symptoms include:

Try one or more of the following:

Repair corrupt drawings. See How to repair corrupt AutoCAD files.
Optimize the drawing:
- Optimizing the AutoCAD drawing file: Purge, Audit & Recover (note: check the box for "Automatically purge orphaned data").
- Optimizing the AutoCAD drawing file: Windows Clipboard Copy and Paste.
If drawing is expected to contain only AutoCAD geometry and annotation object purge the AEC object data using PURGEAECDATA (Command); alternatively export the drawing to AutoCAD EXPORTTOAUTOCAD (Command).
Reduce the number of annotation scales in the drawing file; see Warning: "This drawing contains a large number of annotation scales" when opening a file in AutoCAD Products.
Use the RegApp Cleanup utility to remove RegApps from multiple files (host and Xref drawings); see How to install the Regapp ID Cleanup Utility for AutoCAD.
Reduce the number of Viewbase Drawing views in any one layout or attach the views as an external reference. See About Attaching and Detaching Referenced Drawings (Xrefs).
Export then reimport the file using:
- The DXFOUT and DXFIN commands.
- The DGNEXPORT (select V8 DGN format) and DGNIMPORT.
Clean DGN linetypes from the drawing. See How to clean DWG files from the extra DGN linetypes with AutoCAD 2015 or greater.

Install the latest AutoCAD updates. See Where to download software and updates | Individuals | Autodesk Support.
Uninstall older versions of DWG TrueView and install the version matching the currently installed AutoCAD release.

AutoCAD for Mac; AutoCAD LT for Mac; AutoCAD Products;

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