How-To Guide

How to Find Missing Xrefs in Every Drawing in a Folder

Published November 2026 | 74mph Solutions

Monday morning. The project server moved over the weekend. The first drawing you open shows Not Found next to three xrefs. There are 400 more drawings in the project, and you do not know which of them are broken.

Opening each one to look at the External References palette takes a minute or two a drawing. That is a working day of clicking before anything is fixed.

400 drawings. Opened one by one: 7 to 13 hours, before any fixing. Tornado: one report, every missing xref by name.

Check One Drawing: the External References Palette

Type XREF to open the External References palette. Any xref, image or PDF underlay AutoCAD cannot find shows Not Found in the Status column. Select it to see the saved path and where AutoCAD looked. That works for one drawing. It does not work for a project.

Check a Folder With Reference Manager

Reference Manager is a separate program that installs with full AutoCAD (look for it in the Windows Start menu under AutoCAD). Add a folder of drawings and it lists every xref, image, font and plot configuration, with a status that shows which ones are not found. It can also change saved paths in many drawings at once. It is not part of AutoCAD LT.

It is a path tool, not an audit. It will not tell you which drawings use absolute paths that will break on the next move, which ones attach each other in a loop, or what else is wrong with the same files.

Check Every Drawing at Once With Tornado

Tornado DWG Scanner opens every drawing in a folder tree with your own AutoCAD and gives you one row per drawing and one column per check. For xrefs, put these checks in the report:

Missing xrefs: how many xrefs in each drawing do not resolve, with their names.
Xref path types: absolute versus relative saved paths. Absolute paths are the ones that break when a folder moves, so Tornado flags them (turn that off if your standard uses them).
Circular references: drawings that attach each other in a loop.
Raster images and PDF and DGN underlays: how many attached files cannot be found, with the file names if you want them.

Switch to the Flagged view and you see only the drawings with a problem. Save the report as a recipe and you can run the same check after every move.

Know which drawings are broken before you open any of them.

Free trial with no time limit. 10 files per run, all checks.

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Repath Them in One Run With Hurricane

Export the flagged drawings from Tornado as a file list. Tornado finds Hurricane's file-list folder automatically, so the list loads straight into Hurricane's queue. Then one script repoints the xref in every drawing:

;Repoint P-BASE to the shared folder, as a relative path
-XREF
P
P-BASE
..\ref\P-BASE.dwg

Test before you batch: the xref name and path here are examples. Use your own, and run the script on a copy or two first, because prompts can differ between AutoCAD versions. QSAVE is left out on purpose: Hurricane adds the save to every drawing.

Prefer Reference Manager for the repath? That works too. Either way, finish with the proof. Then run the same Tornado report on the same list. When the Flagged view is empty, export it to Excel (the flag colors come with it) for your records.

Stop It Happening Again

Attach xrefs with a relative path type, so the links survive when the whole project folder moves.
Keep reference files inside the project folder, not on someone's desktop or a mapped drive letter only one PC has.
Run the xref checks after a server move or rename, and when consultant drawings arrive.

What You Need

Tornado: full AutoCAD 2018 or later on Windows (AutoCAD LT is not supported yet). Free trial: no time limit, 10 files per run, all checks.
Hurricane: AutoCAD (2026 and all prior versions), AutoCAD LT, BricsCAD, IntelliCAD or DraftSight. Free trial: no time limit, no credit card.
Both are local Windows programs. Your drawings never leave your PC.

FAQ

How do I find missing xrefs in AutoCAD?

In one drawing, open the External References palette (XREF) and look for Not Found in the Status column. For a whole folder, use Reference Manager or a Tornado report, which lists the missing xrefs for every drawing at once.

What is the difference between an absolute and a relative xref path?

An absolute path stores the full location, including the drive letter. A relative path stores the location from the host drawing, such as ..\ref\. Relative paths keep working when the whole project folder moves.

Does Tornado fix the paths?

No. Tornado finds and reports. Hurricane, or Reference Manager, changes the paths, and Tornado re-checks them.

Does this work in AutoCAD LT?

Hurricane works in AutoCAD LT. Tornado needs full AutoCAD 2018 or later for now.

Tuesday, 9am: every xref in the project resolves, and you have the report to prove it.

Try both free. No time limit.

Try Tornado Free Try Hurricane Free