SHEETNUMBER renumbers paper space layouts sequentially, with an optional prefix and suffix. Layouts are renumbered in tab order — the order they appear along the bottom of the screen — not alphabetically.
What SheetNumber does
So drag the tabs into the order you want the set issued in, then run this, and the numbering follows. That is the right way round: the tab order is what you can see and rearrange, and the numbering should agree with it.
You are asked for a prefix, a suffix and a starting number, then whether to renumber all layouts or choose specific ones from a filtered list. A prefix of A- with two-digit padding from 1 produces A-01, A-02, A-03 and so on.
How to use it
- Load the routine with
APPLOAD, or put it on your support file search path. - Drag the layout tabs into issue order first.
- Type
SHEETNUMBER. - Give the prefix, suffix and starting number.
- Renumber all layouts, or pick specific ones from the filtered list.
How it works
Everything is renamed twice, and the reason is a real problem. Layout names must be unique, so renaming directly would collide as soon as a target name matched a layout not yet renumbered — renaming Sheet 2 to A-01 fails outright if an A-01 already exists further along the set.
To avoid that, every layout being renumbered is first given a temporary name built from a seed string, and only then given its final name. The seed is a run of % characters, lengthened until it appears in no existing layout name — so it cannot collide with anything real, however oddly the drawing has been named.
When only some layouts are renumbered, the names of the untouched ones are also checked, and any number that would clash with them is skipped. Renumbering half a set does not quietly produce a duplicate.
The four settings at the top of the file can be fixed rather than prompted, which is worth doing if your office always uses the same prefix — set any of them to a value instead of nil and that prompt disappears.
Notes and limits
- Tab order is the numbering order. Rearrange the tabs before running it, not after.
- Collisions are handled, including with layouts you chose not to renumber.
- Preset the prefix and padding in the settings block to skip the prompts.
- Renaming layouts does not renumber title blocks. See SHEETFILL for that.
Download and details
| Name | SheetNumber — renumber paper space layouts sequentially |
| Download | SheetNumber.lsp — 13.0 KB, plain AutoLISP source. Downloads directly; no zip to unpack. |
| Type | AutoCAD AutoLISP routine |
| Command | SHEETNUMBER |
| Requires | the ActiveX layer (loaded automatically by the routine with vl-load-com); nothing extra — the dialog is written to a temporary file at run time and deleted again, so there is no .dcl to install. |
| Source size | 13.0 KB, 321 lines |
| Error handling | Yes — a *error* handler restores every system variable it changed, on cancel as well as on error. |
| Undo | The whole operation is wrapped in a single undo group, so one U reverses all of it. |
| Compatibility | AutoCAD (any release with AutoLISP), BricsCAD, ZWCAD, GstarCAD, ProgeCAD and other IntelliCAD-based platforms. AutoCAD LT needs a LISP enabler. No .NET, no ObjectARX, no installer. |
| Author | YZ, August 2026 |
| Licence | Free to use, supplied “as is” with no warranty. |
References
- SHEETSHUFFLE LISP — reorder the tabs before numbering them
- SHEETFILL LISP — fill the title blocks to match the new numbers
- SHEETECHO LISP — copy objects to the same spot on every sheet
- More free AutoLISP routines on this site
- Wisey’s Steel Shapes — free structural steel section drawing program