112 posts categorized "AutoCAD Tips"

When you have a large drawing to work it becomes necessary that you act smart in order to remain productive and reduce your drawing edit time there are many tools in AutoCAD which will help you in becoming more productive and efficient one such tool is Quick Select which can be used not only for making selection filters but it can also be used to count number of objects of a particular type in AutoCAD. Read more →


It has always been a pleasure to publish a guest post from someone in the Autodesk community. It helps the guest author get more visibility among peers as well as shares some valuable knowledge with the readers of this Between the Lines blog, a win – win for everyone. This guest post is by Jim LaPier - blog www.macncad.com. Jim has been an AutoCAD and AutoCAD for Mac expert with his job using AutoCAD and supporting it. In AutoCAD 2014, a new tab bar was added to the drawing interface. This tab system allows for simple and quick drawing switching and also added the convenience of opening the parent folder of the current AutoCAD for Mac 2014 - Open File Locationdrawing. This may seam like a simple addition but it is one I’ve welcomed with open arms. At one point I even added a lisp routine to my AutoCAD setup that allowed me to accomplish this, so I was quite happy that by simply right-clicking on the tab, you can choose “Open File Location” and an explorer window will open at the files location. Why so happy you might ask? Most firms I’ve worked for use a fairly expansive series of folders to manage their projects. When I’m working in a drawing I often need to look at other files pertaining to the dwg file. pdf’s, images of the site, Excel bill of materials, etc. An option like this makes it so much easier than opening Explorer and navigating from Read more →


I received both Tricks and Treats for AutoCAD and Civil 3D after posting for readers to send Autodesk product tips and tricks as Tricks and Treats. There are 8 tricks for AutoCAD based products and 3 treats for Civil 3D for you to try. For the 6 people submitting these tricks and treats I will send them something fun. If they are attending Autodesk University 2013, I will give it to them there and of course buy them a beverage of their choice as a small token of thanks for participating and sharing in the fun. Enjoy the Tricks and Treats! Read more →


So you mostly work in mostly 2D in AutoCAD, and you are asking "How can I set AutoCAD so that the 3D ViewCube is off when I start a new drawing"? Even in 2D drawing the ViewCube can be helpful in orienting the drawing, but if you really want to disable the ViewCube when you start a new drawing, read further for the solution. When you start a new drawing, AutoCAD uses a template (DWT). To change the ViewCube setting for new drawings, you only need to edit your template(s). Word of warning it is always a good thing to make a backup of existing files before overwriting them, just in case. Read more →


IN AUTOCAD WE USE MOSTLY ALL CAPS (UPPERCASE) FOR TEXT FOR READABILITY AND NOT THAT WE ARE YELLING OR SHOUTING IN TEXT. WE SIMPLY FORGET TO CHANGE OUR KEYBOARD CAPLOCK. "Shaan, please stop yelling in uppercase text in email..." Oh sorry about that. See that is the problem that I will show you how to prevent. Sometimes when you exit AutoCAD you still have the CAPS lock on and then go to your email or instant messaging and appear to be shouting, when you are not. Uppercase text typically in email is considered the equivalent of shouting or yelling. You might think that people would notice their uppercase still on, but after hours of working in AutoCAD I think you are honestly text case blind or in a trance. So, how do I turn on Uppercase text in AutoCAD? I want to type in all caps in AutoCAD only. There is an "AutoCAPS" option in the Ribbon Text Editor, in the Tools panel. Start the text command or double click some text to edit, and expand the Tools panel to expose the AutoCAPS option. adskbhsverall Read more →


I type too fast and the AutoCAD AutoComplete gets messed up. AutoCAD’s AutoComplete feature controls whether and how the program fills in the rest of the command or system variable name at the Command prompt. The solution is not to slow down your typing or drink less green tea or coffee, but this tip on disabling the AutoComplete or setting the delay time below should help. Read more →


I get asked this frequently and was just asked again which caused me to think, “hey I should blog this.” I received a set of DWG files from a client and want to clean up the layers to my CAD standards, how do I do it and not take days or having to write code? The solution is actually quite simple, and powerful. Read more →


If you have used AutoCAD you have most likely accidently done something like this since AutoCAD enabled the ability to turn off the Command Line aka Command Window. The Autodesk product teams receive several emails from the Autodesk Product Feedback Form. Your feedback goes to the products teams and they read them. In many cases team members respond if there is enough detail and time permitting but they can’t respond to every feedback submission, but do try to help when they can. This solution was by AutoCAD Test Development’s Cliff Young. Read more →


SUPERHATCH is a former AutoCAD Express Tool that is now included in the core AutoCAD product. You can create a hatch pattern from most anything without having to learn how to write a hatch pattern definition file. This AutoCAD tutorial is by Autodesk’s own Cliff Young of the AutoCAD Test Development Team. If any readers have a tutorial on an Autodesk product they want to be posted to this blog and read by thousands of readers please email me. Read more →