In AutoCAD Mechanical, Layers or styles will not update through the Mechanical Layer toolbar

Recently a case was resolved where a selected object's layer or the properties of the layer were not updating correctly in AutoCAD Mechanical 2013 when the changes where made using the Mechanical Layer toolbar.

Those same changes could be done from the Properties dialog or from the Ribbon panel, just not from the toolbar. Here is a typical example of the problem:

 

1. Draw a line on the current layer in a drawing with multiple layers.
2. Select the line and try to change the layer of the line using the pull down from the Mechanical Layer toolbar. 

This is where it messes up and doesn't change the layer of the line. For some reason, the Layer Properties Manager dialog box appears and the command line hits "enter" which activates the previously entered command.

 

We found that the solution was to unload the ALIAS CONCEPT partial customization file using the CUILOAD command. Under certain circumstances, having the ALIAS CONCEPT partial customization file loaded in AutoCAD Mechanical 2012 and 2013 has been shown to interfere with power dimensioning and the Mechanical Layer toolbar functioning correctly.

 

Click to enlarge.

The ALIAS CONCEPT partial customization file is loaded to provide the tools in the "Sketchbook Designer" ribbon tab when AutoCAD Mechanical is installed with the Autodesk Product Design Suite and Autodesk Sketchbook Designer is also selected to install.

If you need some of the features of Sketchbook Designer, reload the partial customization file that is named "aliasconcept.cuix". You can locate it in the Support folder here:

For Windows XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Appication Data\Roaming\Autodesk\Autocad Mechanical 2013 - English\r19.0\Enu\Support\

 

For WIndows 7:

C:\Users\<username>\Appdata\Roaming\Autodesk\Autocad Mechanical 2013 - English\r19.0\Enu\Support\

 

For reference, here is a link to the benefits and features of Autodesk SketchBook Designer 2013.