50 AutoCAD Tips

LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
USER INTERFACE
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
USER INTERFACE TIPS
1
AutoComplete can suggest commands and 
system variables
Admit it—you still use the command line! You’ll be happy to know that as
soon as you begin keying in characters at the command line, AutoCAD
®
will
suggest commands and system variables that start with those characters.
This is especially helpful when you can’t quite remember how to spell a
system variable! If you have a release earlier than AutoCAD 2012, you
can get a similar result by clicking the Tab key after keying in one or
more characters at the command line. AutoCAD will cycle through all
the possibilities.
2
Use arrow keys to move up and down the 
command list
Up and down arrows can take you through previously executed commands.
Using the Up arrow is certainly the fastest way to access a command you
used a few steps ago.
3
Add frequently used commands to the Quick 
Access toolbar
Since the Quick Access toolbar is always on the screen, you’ll want to add
your most frequently used commands to it for speedy access. This can
easily be done by right-clicking any tool on the ribbon or by selecting “More
Commands…” from the drop-down list. I highly recommend adding the
Layer list!
4–6
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1–3
LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
USER INTERFACE TIPS
4
Can’t find a command in 
the ribbon?
If you’re not sure where a command is located on the ribbon, key it in to the
Application Menu text box (accessible from the AutoCAD icon in the upper
left corner of the drawing editor). AutoCAD will show you exactly where to
find it!
5
Dock frequently used palettes on the side of 
your screen
You want frequently used palettes like Properties and the Layer Manager
to be easily accessible. I recommend docking your favorite palettes on one
side of your screen. Simply right-click the Palette bar, make sure Allow
Docking is selected, and then choose to anchor the palette to the left or
right. If you also enable Auto-hide, the palettes will close automatically
when you remove focus from them.
6
Save your favorite User Interface to 
a workspace
After you have the perfect user interface setup, you’re going to want to
save it to a workspace so you can easily recall it later. This is especially
handy when you upgrade! Right-click the Workspace drop-down (found on
the Quick Access Toolbar) and select “Save Current As…” You’ll never have
to put your favorite UI back together again!
1–3
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4–6
LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
LAYER TIPS
7
Customize your 
Layer Columns
You probably don’t use all the columns in the Layer Manager, so be sure
to set up the columns to work for you. Drag and drop the columns to suit
your preferred order (infrequently used columns should be on the far right).
Right-click any column header to turn of columns you never use. It’s all
about you, baby!
8
AutoCAD gurus use 
Layer States
If you find yourself spending too much time in the Layer Manager making
changes to your layers, you need to start saving Layer States. A Layer State
is a snapshot of your layer settings that you can recall when needed. Save
Layer States in the layer palette or directly from the ribbon. Switch between
Layer States when needed! This is a huge time-saver in the long run.
9
Need to change your layers to a diferent 
naming convention?
It can be a seriously tedious process to change the names and properties
of your layers to a diferent standard—unless you know about LAYTRANS!
This handy translator makes it easy to map your layers to a diferent
standard. Simply select a drawing with the correct layer standard and map
the layers one by one. You can save the mapping for future use if you plan
on doing this with multiple drawings. What a time-saver!
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10–13
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
LAYER TIPS
10
View layers individually with 
Layer Walk
Would you like to view the layers on your drawing one at a time? LAYWALK
makes it easy to do just that. As you step through the layer names,
AutoCAD will display the objects on each layer—such a handy tool! You
can also select objects while in LAYWALK, and AutoCAD will highlight the
associated layer names.
11
Return objects to ByLayer quickly 
and easily
A well-trained AutoCAD user knows to set objects to ByLayer and let the
layers control the various properties. What do you do when you run across
a drawing where someone broke the rules? SETBYLAYER to the rescue!
This command will even convert nested blocks to ByLayer—now that’s a
handy tool!
12
Delete stubborn 
layers
We’ve all had layers that just wouldn’t purge regardless of our eforts! The
powerful LAYDEL command makes quick work of deleting even the most
stubborn of layers. (Note: LAYDEL won’t delete 0 or the defpoints layer—
but everything else is fair game!)
13
Copy objects to another layer in 
one step
How many times have you made a copy of an object—and then changed it
to another layer? Well, you’re working too hard! Use the COPYTOLAYER
command to make a copy of one or more objects and then change it to another
layer—all in one easy step. You can even create a layer on the fly if needed!
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
HATCHING TIPS
14
Do you have a hole in your 
hatch boundary?
Don’t waste time searching for a gap in your hatching boundary—just set
HATCHGAP to a value larger than the size of the gap! (Note: In most cases,
AutoCAD will show you where the gap is with two red circles [AutoCAD
2011 and higher].)
15
Push hatches behind 
other objects
We typically want our hatches to display behind the other objects in
our drawing. Use the handy HATCHTOBACK command to quickly send
all hatches to the back! (Note: Same concept: You can also use the
TEXTTOFRONT command to make sure all your text is on top of the
other objects.)
16
Set up a default layer 
for hatching
Are you tired of changing your current layer for hatching? If you are
using AutoCAD 2011 or higher, you’ll love the ability to set a default
layer for hatching. Use the HPLAYER command or set it from the ribbon
(even easier!).
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
HATCHING TIPS
17
Need to duplicate an 
existing hatch?
Do you need to add some additional hatches to a drawing using the same
properties of an existing hatch? The fastest means of doing that is by right-
clicking the hatch pattern and then choosing Add Selected from the right-
click menu. AutoCAD is now ready to create another hatch pattern with the
exact same settings and properties! Super speedy!
18
Make your own hatch patterns on 
the fly
Defining your own hatch patterns can be a very cumbersome process. The
Express Tool SUPERHATCH lets you use images, blocks, xrefs, and wipeouts
as hatch patterns! Simply draw your hatch pattern—save it to a block and
use SUPERHATCH to hatch with it! Now isn’t that easier?
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LAYERS
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
HANDY SYSTEM VARIABLES
19
Tired of “Object selected is not a polyline, do 
you want to turn it into one”?
Admit it—you’re tired of that extra prompt in the PEDIT command!
Set PEDITACCEPT to 1 and you’ll never have to face that question
again. Fabulous!
20
Stop that ghosting of 
Annotative Objects
SELECTIONANNODISPLAY controls the ghosting that appears on
annotative objects. Set it to zero to only see one scale at a time for
selected objects.
21
Tray Notification 
bugging you?
Set TRAYNOTIFY to 0 and banish the bubble!
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
HANDY SYSTEM VARIABLES
22
So you want your linetypes to continue 
across vertices?
By default, linetypes treat each segment in a polyline individually. If you’ve
ever wanted a linetype to treat the entire polyline as one continuous
segment, set PLINEGEN to 1.
23
Show all your open drawings on 
the Taskbar
You want to be able to jump from one open drawing to another as quickly
as possible. Set the system variable TASKBAR to 1 and all of your open
drawings will appear on the Taskbar.
24
Personalize the sample 
text string
The default sample text string for MTEXT is Abc (boring!). Personalize
it with the system variable MTJIGSTRING. Of course I have mine set
to AutoCAD!
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19–21
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
TIME-SAVERS
25
Clean up 
your drawing!
Rid your drawing of duplicate or overlapping objects and extra vertices in
polylines. OVERKILL will clean up your drawing for you in one fell swoop,
resulting in a smaller file size and possibly speedier response time. After all,
a clean drawing is a fast drawing!
26
Join multiple objects together 
with ease
The updated JOIN command will join as many contiguous objects at one
time as you like! Want to rid an entire drawing of stray objects? Key in ALL
at the first JOIN prompt followed by an extra Enter (it really works!).
27
Grip 
tips
Want a super speedy way to clear your grips? Hold down the right mouse
button (your fingers never have to leave your mouse!). Did you know that
by holding down the Shift key you can grab more than one hot grip?
28
Fast corners 
in fillet
No need to set your fillet radius to zero anymore to square of a corner.
After selecting the first segment of the intended corner, hold down the Shift
key and select the second segment. Voila! AutoCAD will automatically
square it of.
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29–32
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
TIME-SAVERS
29
Super speedy 
Trims
Want to get in and out of the Trim command as quickly as possible? At the
first prompt (select Cutting Edge) just hit an extra Enter! Everything in the
drawing will become a cutting edge (even though nothing highlights), and
you can trim away! (Note: This also works on Extend.)
30
Combine Trim and Extend (kill two birds with 
one stone!)
Did you know that you can switch to Extending while in the Trim command
(or vice versa)? Just hold down the Shift key and AutoCAD will Extend
rather than Trim. If you are in the Extend command and you hold down the
Shift key, AutoCAD will start to trim! Try it!
31
Try the new Array option in the 
COPY command!
Have you ever been in the COPY command and decided you needed
multiple copies the same distance apart? If so, you’re going to love the new
Array option that has been added into the COPY command. After selecting
the objects to copy and a basepoint, you can use the new Array option to
indicate how many copies you want and the distance/direction you want
them to go!
32
Use the Shift key to temporarily turn 
on Ortho
Sure you can toggle ORTHO on and of—but what if you just want to toggle
it for one step? Try holding down the Shift key to toggle Ortho—much less
efort! (You don’t want to burn TOO many calories using AutoCAD.)
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25–28
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
BLOCKS AND XREF TIPS
33
Block counting that is MUCH faster than 
using your fingers!
Use the nifty Express Tool BCOUNT to do a speedy, easy-to-read count of
any or all of your blocks. It doesn’t get any easier than that!
34
Explode a block but keep the 
attribute values
It can be very frustrating when you explode a block with attributes, only
to find the attributes resort back to their original tag. Wouldn’t it be nice if
they could magically keep their values after exploding? Wish granted—use
the BURST command!
35
Make blocks with multiple 
insertion points
1. Right-click a selected block and go into the Block Editor.
2. Select “Point” from the block authoring palette and choose where you
want an additional insertion point to go. Select anywhere to place the
label location.
3. Repeat for additional insertion points if needed.
4. Save the changes and close the block editor (ignore the yellow
exclamation points!).
5. When inserting your awesome new block, use the Control key to cycle
through added insertion points.
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36–37
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
BLOCKS AND XREF TIPS
36
Reverse search 
of xrefs
We can easily list the xrefs in a drawing—but have you ever wanted to
find out how many drawings a specific file is attached to via xref? (Did
you follow?) I call it a reverse search. Using the Design Center search
capabilities, you can open the “Look for” drop-down list to select Xref.
Follow this up by entering the exact drawing name in the text box.
AutoCAD will crawl through the indicated directories looking for all the
drawing files with this particular xref attached. Magic!
37
Fade external 
references
You can fade your xrefs from the Reference panel on the Insert tab,
Reference panel on the ribbon. You can also use the XDWGFADECTL
system variable to set it to a value between 0 and 90. The higher the value,
the more your xrefs will be faded. (Note: Click the icon on the left of the
slider bar to turn fading on or of entirely.)
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33–35
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
DIMENSIONING TIPS
38
Knock out multiple dimensions at 
one time!
The fantastic Express Tool QDIM enables you to dimension multiple objects
at one time. Just window the objects you want to dimension and show
AutoCAD where you want the dimensions to go—done! You simply must
give it a try—it could save you loads of time!
39
Remove a step from 
Linear Dimensioning
This rarely known tip can save you lots of time. When asked to select the
endpoints for your linear or aligned dimensioning, hit Enter. Then you’ll be
prompted to select an object—and AutoCAD will find the object endpoints
for you!
40
Use multi-function grips for 
speedy dimensioning
AutoCAD 2012 introduced some powerful multi-function grips that put
frequently used commands right on the objects themselves. Hover over a
dimension grip and you’ll find a slew of commands right at your fingertips!
This cuts down on the need to search for commands in the ribbon (and
that’s a good thing!).
41
Correct overridden 
dimension values
There’s no easy way to tell if a drawing has dimensions with overridden
values. DIMREASSOC to the rescue! DIMREASSOC will highlight any
dimension text that has been overridden and return it to its real value. Now
that’s power!
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LAYERS
42–44
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
DIMENSIONING TIPS
42
Trying to figure out how to dimension an 
angle more than 180 degrees?
No problem! Add an extra Enter at the first prompt in Angular
dimensioning to specify a Vertex and you’ll be good to go!
43
Don’t explode crossing dimensions 
to edit them
Let DIMBREAK deal with those crossing dimensions. Your dimensions
will stay intact, and the break will self-adjust should you need to move
your dimensions.
44
How do you get evenly 
spaced dimensions?
Do you just visually space your dimensions until they look right? Let
DIMSPACE do the work for you. DIMSPACE will make sure your linear and
angular dimensions line up and are evenly spaced—a real time-saver!
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LAYERS
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
OBJECT SELECTION AND CREATION
45
I need to add another object just like 
that one!
No need to research all the properties of an existing object to create
another similar object. Right-click any selected object and choose Add
Selected from the shortcut menu. This will launch you into the same
command that was used to create the original object—along with all
the same properties! (Note: This is very useful when working on other
people’s drawings.)
46
Speedy means of selecting 
similar objects
Do you find yourself combing a drawing to find all of the same type of
objects? Or perhaps all the same type of objects on the same layer?
Whatever the parameters are, you’re going to want to use Select Similar to
find them! Right-click any highlighted object and choose Select Similar from
the shortcut menu. AutoCAD will do the work for you and add them to the
selection set. Use the Settings option in the SELECTSIMILAR command to
control the properties searched for.
47
Isolate objects for 
easy editing
We’re used to working with layers to control the visibility of objects—but
now we can individually select objects to display or hide! Simply right-click
the selected objects you want to hide, and choose Isolate =>Hide Objects
from the shortcut menu. If you prefer to hide everything except for the
selected objects, you would choose Isolate =>Isolate Additional Objects
instead. Bring everything back by selecting End Object Isolation from the
right-click menu. (Note: You can also right-click the light bulb icon in the
lower right corner of the status bar.)
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48–50
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LYNN ALLEN’S 50 BONUS TIPS: AUTOCAD 2013
OBJECT SELECTION AND CREATION
48
Selection Cycling for 
crowded drawings
Be sure to turn on Selection Cycling (found on the Status Bar) in crowded
drawings to ensure you always select the right object. AutoCAD will display
a window of all the objects that fall under the object selection pickbox for
you to choose from.
49
Tough time getting inside of a 
nested viewport?
Sometimes it can be tricky getting to objects found in a nested viewport
(a viewport within a viewport). Use Ctrl+R to cycle through all of your
viewports until you get to the nested one!
50
Use Quick Select (QSELECT) to find specific 
types of objects
Are you looking for all the blocks with a specific name or the circles of a
specific size? Use Quick Select to tell AutoCAD exactly what you’re after
and let Quick Select do all the work! You can find Quick Select in the
Properties Palette or on the Utilities Panel of the Home tab on the ribbon,
as well as in the right-click menu.
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ABOUT LYNN ALLEN
Lynn Allen, Cadalyst columnist and worldwide Autodesk Technical Evangelist, speaks to more
than 30,000 users each year. For the past 18 years, she has written a column in Cadalyst
magazine called “Circles and Lines,” and is the voice behind Cadalyst’s “Tips and Tricks
Tuesdays.” Lynn started using AutoCAD software with Release 1.4 over 20 years ago, and got
her start by teaching at the corporate and collegiate level for 12 years. A sought-after public
speaker with a unique comedic style, Lynn has served as the Autodesk University emcee for
10 years and is always one of the highest-rated speakers. Her latest book is titled AutoCAD
Professional Tips and Techniques.
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afliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective
holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services oferings, and specifications and pricing at any time
without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.
© 2012 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.
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