Hi Brenda,
to achieve the spawning behavior you are looking for try:
- Make the block (if it did not exist before)
- Enter the block by double clicking on it
- Put everything in the block on the default layer or a layer called 0 (this is for example an AutoCAD convention). This layer has to always stay on.
- Change all the object properties (display color, print color, line type, print width, material, etc.) to By Parent.
This will make the objects in the block inherit all the properties of the their parent.
In case you have to modify an existing file with many blocks and if you have some scripting knowledge you can make scripts for all the repetitive tasks in step 3 and 4. Otherwise use the above as a best practice for working with blocks if you want them to inherit properties.
Hope this helps.