AutoCAD 2020 - Layer Management - Layer States

By John Flanagan

Introduction

In a recent training course a delegate asked if it was possible to draw in black and white and toggle between black and white and full colour. This can be achieved with Layer States.

Set up your layers as usual with the appropriate colours. You could also use an existing project or a sample project were the layers have already been set up and colour coded. Create two new Layer States as shown and name them Full Colour and No Colour.

Create a New Layer State called Full Colour and in the Manage Layer States dialogue, highlight your new layer and click the restore button.

Repeat the process and create another New Layer called No Colour, but remember to change the layer colours to match the new Layer State before you press restore. You can do this in the Layer Properties Manager. Turn all the colours for the no Colour State to white.

You should now be able to toggle between a full colour and black and white layer state. If you want to draw in black and white, just keep that layer state active.