Last updated July 28, 2026
This finds every insertion of a named block in the drawing and sets one of its attributes to the same new value across all of them. Type the block name, the new value, and which attribute to change, and it works through the lot.
The use case is the one that comes up on every project: the drawing number, the revision letter, the sheet issue date or the client name sitting in a title block or a label block, repeated across dozens of insertions, all needing to change at once.
It is not AutoCAD’s ATTEDIT
Worth being clear about, because the file is called ATTEDIT.LSP and AutoCAD has a long-standing command of that name. The two are unrelated, and this file does not replace it — the command it defines is AE.
AE is two letters, which is short enough to collide with something you have set up yourself. Check before you load it.
Three questions, no picking
You never select anything. The routine asks for the block name, finds every insertion of that block in the drawing database, and edits them. That is the strength and the risk in the same sentence.
The strength is that nothing is missed — the search covers the whole drawing rather than what you can see, so insertions on frozen layers, switched-off layers and in layouts are all included. That is usually exactly what you want for a title block field.
The risk is the same thing. There is no selection step, no preview and no confirmation. Get the block name right and it does the job in one keystroke; get it wrong and nothing happens, which is harmless. But the moment it does find matches, every one of them changes.
Note that both the new value and the attribute name you type are converted to upper case before use. If your attribute tags are upper case — and by convention they usually are — that helps. If the value you are setting needs to keep its capitalisation, this is not the tool.
How to load it
Unzip Attedit.zip and load ATTEDIT.LSP with APPLOAD. Given what it does without confirmation, load it when you need it rather than leaving it in the Startup Suite. Our AutoLISP guide covers loading.
Step-by-step usage
- Work on a copy, or save first. This changes every matching block with no way to preview what it will hit.
- Type AE.
- At “Enter the name of block to update:” type the block name exactly.
- At “Enter new atrribute value:” type the value you want set.
- At “Enter the name of the attribute to change:” type the attribute tag — the tag, not the prompt text or the current value.
If you do not know the tag, explode a copy of the block in a scratch drawing and look at the attribute definitions, or check the block editor. Getting the tag wrong is the usual reason nothing appears to happen.
Compatibility notes
No date or author in the file — its only comment is a joke at the reader’s expense. It works by walking entity data directly, which is the durable approach, and the attribute structure it relies on has not changed.
Plain AutoLISP with no dialog boxes and no Express Tools calls, so nothing requires the full product; LT users on LT 2024 or later, the release that brought AutoLISP to LT, should be able to run it. See what runs on AutoCAD LT. It also leaves its working variables behind in the drawing session, which is harmless but untidy.
Download
| Name: | ATTEDIT |
| Description: | Attribute edit to change the attribute name. |
| Type: | AutoCAD AutoLISP Routine |
| Author: | Anon |
| File Size: | 1 Kb |
| Cost: | Free |
| Worked on: | AutoCAD |
| Download File: | Attedit.zip |
The description says the routine changes the attribute name. It changes an attribute’s value — you tell it which attribute by name, and it sets what that attribute contains.
Related routines
- UPDBLOCK — change the layer or colour inside block definitions.
- Block Count — find out how many insertions you are about to change.
- LLP Suite — a larger set of attribute commands.