Good Question: Block Attribute Position

Today’s good question comes from Henk. He asked what would prevent him from being able to view and select attribute grips within a block insertion.

In AutoCAD 2006, as part of the dynamic block functionality, the new Lock Position property was added to block attributes. It’s enabled by default because if you define a dynamic block and want the attribute's position to be included in an action's selection set, it must be locked. An additional benefit of locking the position, especially with dynamic blocks, is that the attribute grips are not displayed when the block insertion is selected. This helps simplify the appearance of selected blocks making it easier to see the dynamic block grips without being overwhelmed by attribute grips.

The Lock Position property is turned on by default in the Attribute Definition dialog box. If you turn it off, you’ll be able to see and move block attributes within the block insertions. Note in AutoCAD 2006 and 2007, the Lock Position option is in the lower left corner of the dialog box.

If you’ve already defined an attribute definition with Lock Position enabled, you can change it using the Properties window. To update blocks that have already been inserted in the drawing, you’ll need to use ATTSYNC.

Thanks to Henk for the good question!