Basic Land F/X Troubleshooting Checklist

Quick video

x

Power Tip: Basic Troubleshooting Tips

• Attempt the same action in a brand-new, blank drawing.
• Clean your drawing.
• Unlock your layers.
• Still having the issue? Look for the solution in our Knowledge Base.
• Related Webinars

Having trouble with your drawing? The issue could be simpler than you think. Here are a few essential troubleshooting steps to take when CAD starts acting up.

Attempt the same action in a blank drawing.

First of all, what's the issue you're experiencing? Plant labels not coming in correctly? Hatches not placing properly? Blocks or fonts don't look right?

Try opening a fresh CAD drawing based on either the acad.dwt or acadiso.dwt template files. Here's how.

It's important that you open a blank drawing based on one of these templates – acad.dwt for Imperial units or acadiso.dwt for metric units. This will ensure that you're opening a completely blank drawing.

With the blank drawing open, go to our Projects tool and open the Land F/X project you were using in the problematic drawing. Now attempt the same action that was causing the issue (placing a plant, labeling a site amenity, etc.).

Does the same problem occur in the new drawing?

• Yes, the same problem occurs in the new drawing: You can now assume that your issue is general and not tied into the original drawing – the one that first caused the problem.
• No, the problem seems to be isolated to the original drawing: You can all but assume that something is off with the other drawing. Time to Nuke.

Clean your drawing.

Follow our steps to clean your drawing and all Xrefs.

A clean drawing is essential to CAD functioning properly. When you start from scratch (a fresh CAD drawing), this won't be an issue. However, any time you receive a drawing from someone else (a colleague, consultant, or client, for example), there's a good chance the drawing will contain unnecessary junk (Proxy Objects, legacy errors, RegApps, or DGN linetypes) that will inevitably cause problems. A drawing that hasn't been cleaned can succumb to slow performance and, in many cases, general chaos.

Cleaning your drawings is an absolutely essential step in ensuring that Land F/X and CAD will work for you. In fact, when Land F/X users call tech support to troubleshoot a problematic drawing, one of the first questions we'll ask is, "Did you clean the drawing?"

Unlock your layers.

Unable to place objects in your drawing?

You might be trying to work on a locked layer. The solution? Test whether your layer is indeed locked and, if so, unlock the layer. Learn more about locked layers, and unlocking them, here.

Still Having the Issue? Look for the solution in our Knowledge Base.

Try our troubleshooting sections:

• AutoCAD and F/X CAD issues
• Administrative issues with one of the Land F/X plugins
• Planting issues
• Irrigation issues
• Details and site/hardscape issues

Once you've opened any of these pages, you can search for your issue or error using the CTRL + F keys (Windows keyboard) or COMMAND + F keys (Mac keyboard). You can also search using the search bar at the top of this article.

Related Webinars

• Basic Troubleshooting Techniques and Common Issues: A basic understanding of the systems in play can make it surprisingly easy to find solutions to issues you encounter while working in CAD. We’ll take a look at some techniques for narrowing down and addressing some common issues to get back on track. (1 hr 4 min)