How to Purge random STB plot styles from a CTB based drawing

Issue:
When you go into the Purge dialog and you see STB styles listed under the tab for items you cannot purge and want to get rid of them

Causes:
This problem is usually caused by blocks that were created in STB drawings that are inserted into your drawing.
 

Solution:
Follow this process to get rid of them:

1. Open the Drawing
2. Type in CONVERTCTB and select monochrome.ctb and click OK

3. Name the new STB Converter and click Save


4. Type in CONVERTPSTYLES and select the Converter.stb


What we are doing is creating a mapping from CTB to STB that can be reused for any other drawings, so we have to do this only once.

5. Now we launch the Plot Dialog (model or paperspace doesn't matter for this step) and we select New to create a new STB


6. This will launch the wizard, so we set the dialog screens per the below screen shots





7. This process is to create a new STB that only contains the Normal Style (and no others), which is why it's named NormalOnly - this is an important step for the next set of procedures.

8. Type in Plot and set the Plot Style to NormalOnly.stb, and if Prompted, say Yes to change all Layouts:

and

9. Then Click Apply to Layout, then click Cancel:

10. Select all objects on the screen, and in the Properties Palette, change the Plot Style to Normal:


11. Open the Layer manager (I used CLASSICLAYER), change the plot styles of Layer 0, select Normal and confirm it looks like the below, and OK through until you are back at the drawing.

12. Type in PURGE and those plot styles should be purgable:

Purge any leftover garbage now

13. Type in CONVERTPSTYLES and revert this DWG back to CTB based, confirm nothing strange shows up in PURGE, save and close the cleaned file.

14. In some cases, you may have to edit each individual block (using the Block Editor) and repeat steps 10 and 11 on each block definition until your purge is clean.
 

About the Author

Ryan Wunderlich

Sr. Technical Support Specialist<br><br>An AutoCAD Certified Professional, Ryan is responsible for taking client cases and assisting with issues with the software - everything from regular glitches to software deployments and whatever else goes wrong. He's proficient in AutoCAD (including customization), VBA, LISP, and Civil 3D.

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