Quickies - Misc Notes
This article reviews, in no particular order, miscellaneous productivity nuggets. Note that all tips may not be available in all versions.
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| 1) | 80-20 Rule: Build custom tool bars and palettes based on the 80-20 rule. That is, you use 20% of the commands in AutoCAD 80% of the time. Keep up with what commands you do and do not use. Remove the ones you do not, and organize the ones you do use for single click access. |
| 69) | Folder List: You can set up a list of most used folders in the AutoCAD 'Open' dialog for quicker access. Start the 'Open' command and right-click in the 'Places' area to the left of the file list. You can add the current folder to the list, specify a different folder to add, or remove any of the listed folders. The folder list will then be available in the 'Open' and 'Save As' dialogs. |
| 68) | Quick Swap: The 'TASKBAR' command will add a separate taskbar entry for each open drawing for direct quick switching (without having to TAB through each one). Run TASKBAR: set to '1' to see the entries and '0' to disable. |
| 67) | Quick Copy: Start the 'Copy' command as normal, select the source object(s), select the base point. Now move the cursor in the direction you wish to copy the object(s) and input the distance from the base point. For multiple copies, continue inputting distances from the original base point... |
| 66) | Quick Move: Start the 'Move' command as normal, select the source object(s), select the base point. Now move the cursor in the direction you wish to move the object(s) and input the distance from the base point... |
| 65) | Implied Fence: For 'Trim' and 'Extend' just select the boundary object(s), right click (or 'Enter'), and drag a window selection which includes all the entities you wish to trim or extend. No need to hit 'F' to explicitly enter 'Fence' mode. |
| 64) | Clean Workspace: Workspaces are powerful tools for organizing your drawing tasks. As with most good things, the initial setup can take time, but is well worth the effort. In the 'AutoCAD Default' workspace create different toolbars and tool palettes which contain the tools, blocks, and macros you use to perform various tasks. Create a new workspace for each of your primary tasks: ShopDrawings, ShopTickets, ConnectionDetails, etc. As you switch to each workspace turn off the toolbars and palettes you do not need. Hide the toolbars and set the 'View Options' for the tool palette tabs. DO NOT DELETE THEM, JUST TURN THEM OFF. As you work more and more in each workspace, keep track of the tools you may or may not use and adjust the associated palettes and toolbars accordingly. |
| 63) | Copy Tool Palettes: On the source computer: 1)Right click on the orginal palette, 2)Select 'Customize', 3)Highlight and right click on the source palette tab, 4)Select 'Export'. Export the palette to a file on a shared network resource or disk. On the target computer: 1)Right click on a tool palette, 2)Select 'Customize', 3)Right click in the palette area and select 'Import', 4)Browse to the shared resource where the exported palette was saved and click 'Open'. |
| 62) | Clear the Editor: If you start most commands from shortcuts, aliases, or just from the command line, this is for you: 'CleanScreenOn' / 'CleanScreenOff' clears all toolbars and palettes from the drawing editor, except the command palette to really maximize the drawing area. You can also toggle the CleanScreen state with 'Ctrl+0'. |
| 61) | Command Line Hide: The command line is a tool palette and so it can be minimized when not in use. Undock it from the edge of the screen by dragging it, right click on its title bar, and check the 'Auto-hide' option. Now its available when you need it without using up valuable screen space all the time. You can make it even less obtrusive by adjusting its transparency so it does not completely block the screen objects behind it. Right click anywhere over the command bar, select 'Transparency' and adjust as desired. |
| 61) | Command Line Toggle: Hitting the key combination 'Ctrl+9' toggles the command line on/off for added screen space when you need it. |
| 60) | Ortho Toggle: You can hit the 'F3' key to toggle Ortho mode on and off. For a temporary toggle, simply hold down the 'Shift' key. |
| 59) | Object Highlighting: Whenever you cursor over objects they are highlighted. You can change the highlight options to change the objects to hidden lines, to thick lines, or to both. The default is both. |
| 58) | Zoom Animation: Dislike the animation when panning or zooming a view? You can change or disable this behavior with the 'VTOPTIONS' command. |
| 57) | Command Bar: Dislike the Command Bar at the bottom of the screen? Just click on its frame and drag it somewhere else. You can dock it anywhere at the top of the window or leave it floating and make it as small as you like. (Note that if you leave it floating, it is easy to lose if you change your screen resolution.) |
| 56) | Retrieve .BAK Files: If your options are set right (Tools>Options>Open and Save) a backup copy of your drawing is created with each save and has the .BAK extension. If you need to retrieve the file for use, simply find the file in Windows Explorer (it should be in the same folder with the drawing) and change the extension from .BAK to .DWG. Note that in order to do this, Windows display options need to be set to show the file extensions. |
| 55) | Plot Layouts in Order: A bug exists in AutoCAD that keeps you from reliably doing this. You could write your own VBA routine to order the layouts and send them to the plotter. |
| 54) | Attribute Prompt Order: To control the order in which attribute prompts are displayed, you should select them in the desired order when you define the block. |
| 53) | Grip Scale: To scale an object without invoking a command: click on an object (be sure GRIPS=1) then click on one of the external grips. Now just move the mouse pointer in the direction you want the object scaled. Wherever you next click the left mouse button will be the displacement point. Note that this only works with objects that have multiple grip points. |
| 52) | Grip Copy/Move: To move or copy an object without invoking a command: click on the object (be sure GRIPS=1) then click on one of the grips. Now hold down 'Shift' to copy the object and hold down 'Ctrl' to move the object. Wherever you next click the left mouse button will be the displacement point. |
| 51) | Multiple Dimension Scales: You have a detail that you want to plot at 4 different scales (to show increasing detail information as you zoom in), do you need 4 DimStyles? No. Draw the detail at full size, use your standard DimStyle, and create 4 different dimension layers. From the paperspace layout create 4 viewports and set up each one to show the level of detail you need. Visit each viewport and dimension the detail through the viewport using a different dimension layer for each viewport. AutoCAD will scale the dimensions based on the viewport zoom factor so they all plot correctly. Now all you need to do is use 'VPLAYER' to turn off the unwanted dimension layers in the various viewports. |
| 50) | Plotting All Tabs or Selected Tabs: Plotting all layout tabs in a drawing without visiting each one is simply of matter of selecting the radio button labeled 'All layout tabs' under 'What to plot' on the 'Plot Device' tab of the main 'Plot' dialog. To plot just a few selected tabs, hold down the 'CTRL' key and click on each of the tabs you want to plot BEFORE you enter the 'Plot' command. Then select the 'Selected tabs' radio button under 'What to plot'. |
| 49) | File Dialog Sorted Incorrectly: This is a common problem that is caused by a conflict in Windows. The fix requires you to modify the System Registry which could disable your system if not done properly. If you wish to try it, here is a link to the Microsoft description of the fix. |
| 48) | Plotstyle Updates: If you make changes to AutoCAD plotstyles, you may need to restart AutoCAD for the changes to take effect. |
| 47) | Big Screen: Requires Express Tools. Typing 'FULLSCREEN' at the Command: prompt will toggle full screen mode on and off. With it 'ON' the menus are tucked away in at the top of the screen in autohide mode until you move your cursor to the screen edge. And you'll squeeze out a bit more drawing room. |
| 46) | Useful Help: Make use of context sensitive help. Press the 'F1' key while a command is active or a menu item is highlighted and the help system will jump directly to the related topic. |
| 45) | Precise Cursoring: Control the crosshairs with the keyboard arrow keys by holding down the 'Ctrl' key followed by the arrow keys. |
| 44) | Inherit Layer Properties: To create a new layer with the same or similar properties of an existing layer, highlight the layer you want to match in the 'Layer Properties Manager' and select 'New'. The new layer will inherit the properties of the highlighted layer. |
| 43) | Dialog UNDO: If you change your mind while replacing text in dialog box text fields, right-click in the field and select 'UNDO' to revert to the original input. |
| 42) | More Command History: Right click in the command line and highlight 'Recent Commands' to see your 6 most recent commands. Click on the one you want to re-run. |
| 41) | Unsortable Layers: If your layers (or blocks or other symbols) stop displaying in proper alpha order, it may be that you have exceeded the number of layers or names that AutoCAD will sort. Try resetting the value of the system variable 'MAXSORT' upward. |
| 40) | Unplottable Layers: This is often overlooked, but AutoCAD 200x allows you to specify whether a layer is plottable or not by simply clicking on the icon in the 'Plot' column of the 'Layer Properties Manager' ('_LAYER). |
| 39) | Quick Text Width: Requires Express Tools. If you need squeeze or stretch text to a new boundary, try the 'TextFit' command. It defaults to the existing start point and you simply specify a new end point. The text will grow or shrink to fit. |
| 38) | Quick Viewport Switch: Use 'Ctrl-R' to switch between multiple viewports. It is sometimes quicker and removes the aggravation of trying to click between overlapping viewports. |
| 37) | Quick Perpendicular: If you need to draw a perpendicular line to another that is at an odd angle, use 'UCS>OB' and select the source line. This will rotate the crosshairs to match the selected OBject. |
| 36) | Restore Lost Dialogs: If you find your dialog boxes missing there are four system variables which you can check to get them back. For 'File' related dialogs, be sure 'FILEDIA' = '1'; for miscellaneous command dialogs, be sure 'CMDDIA' = '1', for the 'Insert' command, be sure 'ATTDIA' = '1', and for batch plotting and scripting, be sure 'PLQUIET' = '0'. |
| 35) | Fence Trim/Extend: If you have a series of lines you need to extend or trim, you don't have to select each line individually. Instead, enter the 'TRIM' or 'EXTEND' command, and select your boundary. At the 'Select Object' prompt type in 'F'+'Enter' for 'Fence'. You will then be prompted to draw a line. AutoCAD will then try to Trim or Extend all objects crossing that line to your selected boundary. |
| 34) | Stack Anything: If you want to stack miscellaneous MText other than fractions, you can. In the 'MText' editor, separate the text you want on top from the bottom text with a '^' (shift+6), highlight all the text, and select 'Stack'. |
| 33) | Command History: If you find yourself retyping a command you recently used, you can get it back by scrolling through your command history using the 'UP' or 'DOWN' arrow keys. When you get to the command you want, just hit 'Enter'. |
| 32) | Quick Window: If you want to save a step when working on any command requiring a Window or Crossing selection, you can skip entering 'W' or 'C' at the prompt. Instead, if you need to specify a window selection, begin in an open space (not on an object) and drag a box from left-to-right. For a crossing selection, begin in an open space and drag a box from right-to-left. For a quicker 'Zoom-Window', type 'Z'+'Enter' and draw a quick-window. This will invoke the 'Zoom' alias (defined in 'Acad.pgp'). |
| 31) | Controlled UNDO 2: If you want to UNDO your previous five commands, you can either hit 'U' five times or 'UNDO>5'. You can UNDO any number of steps with this method. |
| 30) | Controlled UNDO: Before you start a complex set of operations, you can set an 'UNDO>Mark'. If you later need to get back to your start point, just enter 'UNDO>Begin' and your drawing will revert back to where you set your 'Mark'. |
| 29) | Quick Ops: For every command you execute, AutoCAD spends some amount of resources saving your current entities into its 'UNDO' list in case you change your mind. Normally, this is minimal. If, however, you are executing a complex operation on a complex entity or selection set, the lag could become significant. You can save time and resources by turning off UNDO before running such a command. At the 'Command:' line, or by toolbar, enter 'UNDO>Control>None' (toolbar macro = 'UNDO;C;N;'). After the command is finished, reset UNDO as normal by entering 'UNDO>Control>All' (toolbar macro = 'UNDO;C;A;'). |
| 28) | Share Dictionaries: If you use AutoCAD along with other programs such as MS Office Apps, you can share the same dictionary between them. We'll make AutoCAD use our MS Office Dictionary. To set it up you need to find the MS Office dictionary. To do this, go into the MS application (try 'Word'), misspell a word, run a spell check, then click through to 'Options>Dictionaries'. This window will show you the full path to your dictionary. You need to record the full path including file name. Now, in AutoCAD enter 'DCTCUST' at the 'Command:' and type in the full path, including filename, for the MS Office dictionary, and hit 'Enter'. Ours is at "C:\windows\application data\microsoft\proof\custom.dic", so you might check there first. |
| 27) | Startup Drawing: If you start AutoCAD by bypassing the startup dialog, or choose 'Start from Scratch' in the Start up Dialog AutoCAD normally drops you into a completely blank drawing. To force AutoCAD to startup with a particular template, add the '/t' switch to the target in the shortcut you use to start AutoCAD. Something like: "C:\Program Files\ACAD2002\acad.exe" /t "myTemplate.dwt". Just be sure 'myTemplate.dwt' is in AutoCAD's search path. Note that this will cause AutoCAD to bypass the startup dialog. |
| 26) | Who is Using This Drawing: If a drawing on a networked drive is already open, you can find out who has it open by using the 'WhoHas' command. In order to work, the file 'whohas.arx' must be loaded via the 'Appload' command. On installation AutoCAD usually sets this up by default. |
| 25) | Copy-Clip Precision: To copy objects between drawings utilizing the Windows clipboard and a common base point, use the pull-down menu 'Edit>Copy with Base Point'. This will prompt for a base point, then object selection. In the destination drawing, the 'Paste' command (Ctrl-V) will prompt you for the insertion base point. |
| 24) | Quick Object Rename: The 'Rename' command provides a convenient way to quickly rename multiple object types. Click the object type in the left pane (Blocks, Dimension Styles, Layers, Linetypes, Text Styles, UCSs, Viewports, Views) and the right pane will list the different item names. Click an item in the right pane and type in the new name in the 'Rename To:' field. |
| 23) | Add your Own Accelerators: 'Accelerators' are similar to keyboard shortcuts (see #6) except: they are defined in the main menu file and they can be key combos. While AutoCAD is not running, open 'Acad.mns' (usually in the AutoCAD '\Support' folder) and search for '***ACCELERATORS'. Add yours to the list like so: [CONTROL+"Z"]_zoom;e; and save 'Acad.mns'. The key combination is in brackets'[]' followed by the command sequence to be executed, in this case, 'Ctrl-Z' would cause a Zoom Extents. |
| 22) | Open Multiple Drawings: You can specify multiple drawings to open in the 'File>Open' dialog by: A) Hold down the 'Ctrl' key and single click each drawing you wish to open, or B) Single click the first drawing in a continuous range, hold down the 'Shift' key, and single click the last drawing in the range list. Now click the 'Open' button. |
| 21) | Drawing Life: The transparent 'Time' command provides date/time information about the current drawing, such as: When Created, Last Edited, Total Editing Time, Timer Status, and When It's Next Autosave is Due. |
| 20) | Drawing Status: The transparent 'Status' command provides general information about the current settings in the current drawing. |
| 19) | External Commands: If you need to call other programs often, it may be more convenient to call them direct from the AutoCAD 'Command:' prompt. Add a reference to the program you want to call in the 'Acad.pgp' file (usually in the AutoCAD '\Support' folder). Windows 'Explorer' is already set up, so use its set up as a guide. |
| 18) | Measurement Calculations: Use the transparent 'Cal' command to input measurements directly from the command line. Need an offset of 26'-3 5/8"? Enter the 'Offset' command and at the 'Specify Offset Distance' prompt type ' 'cal '. You can now enter 26*12+3+5 / 8 and the result will be passed to the offset command. This works with most commands requiring dimensional input. (the calculator also has trig functions.) |
| 17) | Flatten Your Drawing: Want to distribute an un-editable version of your drawing? Use the 'Plot to DXB' setup to create a DXB file and import the DXB file into a blank drawing with 'DXBin'. This will create a facsimile of your drawing with one layer and one color. It removes all entity 'intelligence' and recreates all entities and objects with line segments. The DWG version is quite large but you can distribute the DXB file with instructions. This may require the A2k Plotter Update. |
| 16) | Save Drawing Info: Use the 'DwgProps' command to record drawing specific information. The 'Summary' tab allows inputs for Title, Subject, Author, Keywords, Comments, and Hyperlink Base information. The 'Custom' tab allows input of up to ten fields of custom information. The various fields in both tabs can be used as search criteria in Design Center and will be shown in the file's properties. |
| 15) | Re-use Plotter Setups: If you have plotter settings from R13 or R14, use the 'PcInWizard' command to import PCP (R13), or PC2 (R14) plotter settings into an R200x Plotter definition (.PC3). |
| 14) | Re-use Pen Settings: If you have pen settings from R13 or R14, use the 'R14PenWizard' command to import PCP (R13), PC2 (R14), or Acad.cfg (R14) pen settings into R200x. This will create a color-dependent (.ctb) plotstyle. |
| 13) | Re-use Page Setups: After you have a drawing's layout settings as you like them, use the command 'PSetupIn' to import the layout settings into other drawings. |
| 12) | Folder Startup Target: If you have a standard folder which serves as your drawing root, you can make AutoCAD look there first when you run the 'File Open' dialog. Right-click on the shortcut you use to start AutoCAD and select 'Properties'. Put the full path to your startup folder in the 'Start in' field. For example, ours is set to: 'C:\_Jobs'. Our subfolders under '_Jobs' are job numbers (P0594, etc), or 'Standards', or whatever is useful. |
| 11) | Power Select: Explore and use the transparent command 'Filter' to select drawing entities. It allows you to build a custom selection filter list which ignores everything but your specified criteria. Type your command and at the selection prompt, enter ' 'Filter ' and you'll be presented with the filter dialog. |
| 10) | Menu Trim: Each time AutoCAD loads it loads all its resources from various files. You can clean up its memory use by wacking away the parts of the 'Acad.mns' file that you do not use. First, make a backup of the file (usually located in the '\Support' folder), then open it in WordPad while AutoCAD is not running. Review it line by line and delete the lines or sections you don't use or need. If you don't use the Screen menu, there's no need to keep its definition in the menu file. Likewise the Tablet menu. |
| 9) | Zip Up Selections: If you notice your drawing hesitate when selecting entities and performing redraws, first follow #8 and then try adjusting the 'TREEDEPTH' system variable upward. This sysvar stores the drawing's spatial index for entities. There is an index for modelspace entities and an index for paperspace entities. The format is MSPS, where 'MS' is modelspace nodes and 'PS' is paperspace nodes. The default setting is 3020. Each node uses 80 bytes of memory. |
| 8) | Purge, Purge, Purge: One way to trim down your drawing is to get in the habit of purging regularly before saves to clean out unused layers, styles, blocks, and proxy objects. Add a toolbar button with this macro: ^C^C_purge;a;*;n; and do it two or three times to clean out cross references. |
| 7) | Partial Load: If you organize your drawings by views and/or layers, you can use the 'Partial Open...' option in the 'File Open' dialog to load only particular views or layers for editing. You can then load additional views or layers using the '-PartialLoad' command. |
| 6) | Keyboard Shortcuts: Keyboard shortcuts can quicken command entry. Read the 'Acad.pgp' file located in the AutoCAD main folder (C:\Program Files\Acad2002) to find out all the currently defined shortcuts. You can also define and add your own. |
| 5) | No Startup Splash Screen: To bypass the AutoCAD startup splash, add '/nologo' to the shortcut target (right click on the shortcut icon and select 'Properties'). Your 'Target field might read: "C:\Program Files\ACAD2002\acad.exe" /nologo . |
| 4) | Switch Drawings: Use 'Ctrl-Tab' to cycle through currently opened drawings. |
| 3) | Plot Settings: To make plot settings for a layout tab 'stick' use page setup by right clicking on the layout tab. If you make changes in the plot dialog, the change may not be permanent. |
| 2) | Remove from Set: To remove a few items from a selection set, hold down the 'Shift' key and click on the items you want to remove. This is sometimes quicker than switching to 'Remove' mode. |
| 1) | 80-20 Rule: Build custom toolbars based on the 80-20 rule. That is, you use 20% of the commands in AutoCAD 80% of the time. Keep up with what commands you do and do not use. Remove the ones you do not, and organize the ones you do use for single click access. |