2004

Table Of Contents
84 | Chapter 7 Start and Save a Drawing
Use Backup Files
If you turn on automatic backups, AutoCAD saves the previous version of
your drawing files to a file with the same name and a .bak file extension. To
recover the previous version of your drawing from a backup file, rename the
file using a .dwg extension.
Save Part of a Drawing File
If you want to create a new drawing file from part of an existing drawing, you
can use
BLOCK or WBLOCK. With either command, you can select objects or
specify a block definition in your current drawing and save them in a new
drawing file. You can also save a description along with the new drawing.
Save to a Different Type of Drawing File
You can save a drawing to an earlier version of the DWG or DXF format or
save a drawing as a template file. Choose the format from Files of Type in the
Save Drawing As dialog box.
Reduce the Time Required to Save a Drawing File
You can reduce the time required to save a drawing file if you specify incre-
mental saves rather than full saves. An incremental save updates only those
portions of the saved drawing file that you changed.
When you use incremental saves, drawing files will contain a percentage of
potentially wasted space. This percentage increases after each incremental
save until it reaches a specified maximum, at which time a full save is per-
formed instead. You can set the incremental save percentage in the Open and
Save tab of the Options dialog box or by setting the value of the system vari-
able
ISAVEPERCENT. If you set the value of ISAVEPERCENT to 0, all saves are full
saves.
To reduce the size of drawing files, it is recommended that you perform a full
save (with
IPERCENTSAVE set to 0) before transmitting or archiving a drawing.
See Also
“Save Drawings to Previous Drawing File Formats” on page 722
“Export Drawings to Other File Formats” on page 716
“Create Drawing Files for Use as Blocks” on page 321
“Add Identifying Information to Drawings” on page 95
To save a drawing
1 On the File menu, click Save.
If you previously saved and named the drawing, AutoCAD saves any sub-
sequent changes and redisplays the Command prompt. If you have never
saved the drawing, the Save Drawing As dialog box is displayed.