AutoCAD Viewbase dimensions lose associativity after layers are turned off

Issue:

AutoCAD dimensions attached to Base View(VIEWBASE) objects lose their associativity when object layers are turned off.

You turn a layer(s) off, and when Layout Base views update, dimensions attached to objects that are no longer visible become disassociated.

A 'Disassociated annotation' yellow warning badge is attached to the dimension values similar to this:

In AutoCAD's Status Bar, the Annotation Monitor may also open a balloon notification indicating that annotations have become disassociated.

At the bottom of the balloon, there's an option to delete the disassociated annotations:

Note: The ANNOMONITOR variable set to 1 or 2 enables these notifications, set to 0 disables them.

Cause:

Dimensions attached to objects that are now on non-visible layers will become dissociated when a Base View updates.  

This is documented in the following Autodesk article:

https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Dimensions-connected-to-Base-Views-loose-associativity-in-AutoCAD.html

Solution:

To prevent manually re-associating the dimensions using right-click>Reassociate

or deleting and recreating the dimensions, turn off automatic Base view updates.

Disable Automatic Base View updates

Set VIEWUPDATEAUTO to 0 

Base views won't automatically update and in the Status Bar, 'A Model Has Changed' balloon notification will indicate that view objects changed.

Turn on the needed layers and select 'Update View' on the Layout ribbon.  

Setting ANNOMONITOR to 0 will prevent any 'Disassociated annotation' yellow badges . 

However this will turn off any warnings when a dimension loses the reference(edge) it was attached to. 

If you want to be informed of lost references set ANNOMONITOR to 2(or1) and keep automatic view updates off (VIEWUPDATEAUTO=0).

Both variables are saved per drawing only and need to be changed in each file.

More on Updating Drawing Views and Incomplete ViewBase Views.

About the Author

Manufacturing Technical Support Specialist<br><br>Joanna has over eight years of experience working with Autodesk products. She started supporting core AutoCAD and network installations of all Autodesk products. She now has five years of experience with Inventor. <br> She graduated from Mechanical Engineering and has been providing solutions to clients and dedicating her knowledge to the Solution Center since then.

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