Xref, Dref, What the Heck?

Q: What is the difference between a External Reference and a Data Shortcut(Dref)?
A: A lot, they are similar but a Data Shortcut is more flexible than an Xref.

An Xref is basically a picture of another file. You have the ability to turn off, freeze, and change layer properties of each layer in the Xref without effecting the original drawing.

A Dref is an object that exists in one drawing and is shared for viewing and referencing in another drawing. This means you can have separate drawings for a surface, alignment, design profile, and corridor design and reference all of those together to complete a design. You also have the ability to change the labeling and display style of the referenced objects without changing the design.

Xrefs and Drefs ensure that you don't have redundant data that may be changed in one drawing and not the other but requires a more complicated drawing assembly procedure.

So in essence...
Drawings are Xref'd
Civil 3D Objects are Dref'd

I do not use Vault so all my posts are based on a data shortcut based workflow. More questions about this? Email me here.