AutoCAD for Mac Toolbar Button that resets Block MRU to reduce delays

April 19, 2021 Bob Felton

Issue:

The 'spinning beachball' that indicates a wait for delays appears often when the list of recently used blocks is large.

Causes:

Among other reasons, if the list of Most Recently Used blocks contains up to the default value of 50 blocks, there may be a delay as all blocks in the list are located.

 

Solution:

The BLOCKMRULIST System Variable defaults to 50 in a possible range from 0 to 100. This Most Recently Used list is kept available between drawings. 

    

If any drawings that host the blocks in the block history are deleted or moved, that can cause a lengthy delay as the missing drawing location is searched.

By setting BLOCKMRULIST to 0 or to 10, for example, that stops the searching for missing blocks.

To speed that up, a toolbar button with a custom macro can be made with the CUI command (Customize User Interface). The macro C^C^BLOCKMRULIST;10 will reset the block history to 10, for example. 

Then the new toolbar icon can be added to an existing or a new tool palette, for quick access.