Understanding AutoCAD User Interface

Whether you just started using AutoCAD, or you are already an experienced user,
you are likely not fully aware of all user interface elements. The same applies to
AutoCAD commands. Let us review the user interface elements in AutoCAD 2018 as
well as some AutoCAD commands that can give you a shortcut that will improve your
workflow.
AutoCAD Interface
Application Menu
This is the first thing you see on launching AutoCAD, located in the far-left corner at
the top of the screen. It is represented by a big red “A” button with a downward
facing black arrow. Single-clicking this button opens a drop-down menu which
contains some number of the same options in the quick access toolbar, and more.
More importantly, it contains links to most recently opened drawings and sheet sets.
With the click of a button, you can change this to a list of currently open drawings.
Double-clicking the application menu is not advised unless you mean to close
AutoCAD application.

Another feature of the Application Menu is the Search Commands part. Here you
may type the full name or partial name of AutoCAD commands you are not sure of,
and AutoCAD will carry out a search for related commands in the menu. The figure
below shows the results you get when you type ‘poly’ in the Search Commands part.
Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)
This is next to the application menu at the top of the screen in the title bar. The quick
access toolbar (QAT), by default, contains icons for a number of commands, such as
New, Open, Save, Save As, Undo, Plot and Redo. Like most user interface
elements, it can be customized to meet the user’s desires. The figure below shows a
highlighted QAT.

Ribbon
The ribbon is a user interface element that contains various AutoCAD commands
arranged in panels and tabs. The tabs are quite powerful. They have panels of
commands as well as options that relate to any task at hand. For instance, if you
select a HATCH object, a contextual tab appears. The tab contains a Hatch editing
command that appears automatically.

In-Editor elements
These are elements found inside the drawing panel. The user can control their
visibility. In the upper left corner are the view port controls that allow the user to alter
the view and visual styles. The ViewCube, Navigation bar and the UCS icon are
positioned as shown in the figure below.

Status Bar
At the bottom of the screen, is the Status Bar. It contains only icons. Several icons,
by default, are not enabled, but the user can decide to turn on some of them.
The figure below shows a status bar, with an expanded control icon on the far right,
to show you the other available icons.

When you hover the cursor over any icon, you will find out its purpose. The grey
ones mean the toggle is off, and blue means the toggle it on.
File Tabs
File tabs give access to all open documents. Each document that is open has a tab.
Left-clicking on a tab makes it the current open document. Right-clicking on a tab
gives access to more options, including Save As and Close. The tab that has a plus
sign allows the user to open a new document. File Tabs are located just below the
Ribbon. The figure below shows three File Tabs.

Layout Tabs
Layout tabs give access to different Model Spaces of each Layout in any given
document. Left-clicking on a tab to makes it the current open layout. Right-clicking
on a tab gives you access to more options that include Print, Move, or Rename. The
tab that has a plus sign allows the user to create a new layout. Layout Tabs, by
default, are located at the bottom of the drawing panel below the command line, in
the area around status bar.

Drop-Down Menus
A drop-down menu is a top level name that is clickable. On left-clicking the menu
reveals a list of commands or sub menus below it. When a command is selected,
the menu vanishes. An example of a drop-down menu is shown in the figure below.

Toolbars
Toolbars are flat panels containing buttons or drop-down lists. Each button has an
icon and macro that performs a either a command or a macro. The figure below
shows two toolbars.

Command Line
This is a palette in which you can input command names. When docked, it has some
fixed number of visible lines. When floating, the command line can expand to show
more data. The figure below shows an example of a floating command line:
There are many other pallets apart from the command line such as Drawing
Recovery Manager, Quick calculator, Materials Browser and so forth.
I cannot exhaust all the elements in AutoCAD interface but the ones I have
described can help you start understanding the various elements that you see on the
user interface of AutoCAD.