Civil 3D: Dynamic North Arrow does not follow True North

Issue:
Civil 3D: Dynamic North Arrow does not follow True North.

The Dynamic North Arrow should follow true North however it does not. This can be a common occurrence in certain situations.

Causes:
There are known issues for this behavior
•    North Arrow created in an earlier version Template, Layout, Etc.
•    All Layouts were creating using “ALL Layouts in the Current Drawing” Option was used when using the “Layout Creation Options”.
•    There is a Coordinate system assign.

Solution:
•    Test for Corruption – Test for corruption, This can be an issue and should be looked into to make sure you do not have any issues causing this. This is not uncommon for a newer version to find corruption an older version did not.
•    Do not use “ALL Layouts in the Current Drawing” use one of the other options -  This option can cause this issue use any of the other creation options except “ALL Layouts in Current Drawing” see figure 1.

Figure 1

•    Create a new North Arrow after Deleting the bad Arrow in the newer version of Civil 3D.  – Dynamic North Arrows that are created in earlier versions and this can happen via Using an older File, Using a Template from an older version with a Dynamic North Arrow setup. These are all good examples.
•    Set to No Datum and then insert the North Arrow – BY setting no Datum this will Allow the arrow to not follow the Datum and could prove this is the issue.

About the Author

Manufacturing Solution Center Team Lead<br><br>Jeff is responsible for manufacturing Technical Support for both internal staff and customers. In addition to the daily activities of the support center, he helps write for the National Support Center blog, and has written online classes for the IMAGINiT training on demand site.

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