Inserting an attributed block from a tool palette is much like inserting one the standard way.  You'll get a prompt to input values for attributes (tags, etc).  That business you need to go thru for new attributed blocks regardless.

 

The problem I see with copy and pasting often is that you can end up with nested blocks and a load of headaches down the road.

 

I was going to insert an image here showing what one of my tool palettes and the properties for one of the blocks I have in it looks like... but access to those functions today is being denied.  Trust me however, once you work all this out for yourself it will save you a lot of time!

 

 

Dave. 

 

There are a few things that make this method a little more cumbersome for what I am trying to do.

One, when I drag the block out of the pallete, it defaults the layer to 0 instead of the current layer that I am one.  Two, I am given a popup which I have to click on "tag" then insert the tag name in there.

If I were to do it the other way described earlier (copy the linework inside the dwg instead of blocking it, paste it into the drawing I want, then block it), the block will automatically show up with the current layer color, in addition to allowing me to move it around from its basepoint and even giving me a quicker method for entering in the tag data (I don't have to click on anything, I'm just prompted with a text editor popup).

I'll will mess a bit more with the pallette, but from what I've seen, it is not 100% what I need.

 

Once you're happy with the block, select it, pause and grip drag it onto a Tool Palette.  The procedure is specific.  You can't select drag all in one step.  Once the block is on the tool palette you can right click select it and modify the properties to add the layer, scale, rotation values you might want.

 

The Tool Palettes icon is on the View tab, or you can just type TOOLPALETTES to open it.  Right click the grey bar to create a new palette to get yourself started, don't clutter one of the preset panels up with your stuff.

 

The size change thing may be related to units, or if you've made your block annotative, to the scale difference between drawings.

 

Dave.

Thanks for the reply Dave.  When I create a new pallete, what do I drag into it?  If I go to the drawing that I have that contains the testpit symbol, it is not a block, so i can't drag it in there.  If I block it first in that drawing, when I drag it into the pallete, it's size gets changed when I try to insert it into another drawing  and any of its layers that were on 0 don't change to whatever color I bring in the block at.  

So you have to create this block library file for each drawing that I'm in?  What I'd love to have is a block library file that I could use for any drawing and just pull the block from it and make it annotative, but that I'm not sure how to do.

My workaround at the moment is to copy the block into the drawing I want to use it in, block it, make it annotative, and then it gets added to that drawings block library.  Is this what you are describing?

I work in many drawings that use viewports of varying scales.  There is a symbol for testpits that I use and what I want is to insert a block that has annotative properties so that when I change the viewport scale, the block will show at its correct size vs paper space.  

Anyways, I created this block and saved it to my documents.  It is all drawn on layer 0 and I included an attribute that prompts for a testpit name (TP-x) etc when inserted.  The problem is though when I insert this block from a drawing, it is not annotative.  The only way I've been able to use an annotative block is to draw a new block in the current drawing I'm in, block it, and check off annotative.  I don't' want to do this, I want the block that I have saved in my documents to be annotative when inserted and prompt me for the tag name.

Is there something I am missing here?