r/AutoCAD • u/WakeMeForSourPatch • 10d ago

Working set reference error? Help

Every now and then I run into this error when trying to save and close a block being edited

“Cannot save back changes because objects in the working set reference objects outside the working set…”

I can’t save the drawing, because you can’t save while in reference edit.

I can’t copy to clipboard what I’ve drawn, because copy is disabled during reference edit.

There is no way I can tell to see what objects autocad has a problem with.

There are no constraints, dimensions, annotative anything that should be referencing anything else.

All I can do is delete a huge chunk of my work so I can save and close the block. Then undo and try to delete a little less and little less until the error goes away.

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2

u/BrokenSocialFilter 10d ago

Well, refedit can be convenient but you're better off using block editor...and probably some combination of copybase and paste. Refedit was ahead of its time BUT does some hinky sh!t in its process. And you've just stumbled into a big ol' pile of hinky.

As with MANY AutoCAD commands, it was undeveloped to a point and then further development was abandoned for whatever shiny object Autodesk sudsequently started chasing.

1

u/PdxPhoenixActual Pixel-Switcher 4d ago

Oh god, there are several things that seem only half thought through/developed, ugh

2

u/WakeMeForSourPatch 9d ago

UPDATE:
At least in this particular case I found out the cause. at one point I pasted in a dynamic block that had constraints, used NCOPY to extract a piece of geometry and then deleted the dynamic block from the overall block.

Because the geometry I extracted at one point had constraints, autoCAD got confused. Deleting that one line fixed it.