AutoCAD settings

[1] To maximize the display on your laptop screen:

1.1 Show Menu Bar: Click on downward arrow at top left corner in the Quick Access
Ribbon Bar pull-down menu, and select “Show Menu Bar”

1.2 Hide Ribbon bar: Hide the ribbon: Tools > Pallets > Ribbon

Or alternatively at command prompt type ‘ribbonclose’

After closing ribbon, now you have increased drawing space on screen.
[2] Initial AutoCAD settings and to prepare a template:
2.1 Units setting: Type ‘Units’ and hit ‘Enter’ > Length type : decimal, precision: 0
Insertion scale: millimeters
Angle: Decimal degree, precision: 0
Click: OK

2.2 Limits setting: Type ‘Limits’ and hit ‘Enter’: Type 0,0 and hit ‘Enter’, Type 500, 300
and hit ‘Enter’
2.3 Grid setting: Type ‘grid’ at command prompt and hit Enter, specify grid spacing as 10
and hit ‘Enter’.
2.4 Snap setting: Type ‘snap’ at command prompt and hit ‘Enter’. Specify snap spacing as 1
and hit ‘Enter’.
2.5 Zooming: Type ‘z’ at command prompt and hit ‘Enter’, now type ‘a’ and hit ‘Enter’.
Screen will now fit to the set limits and grid line will appear as set.
2.6 Drawing the border rectangle: Type ‘rectang’ at command prompt and hit Enter, first
corner: 0, 0 opp corner: 500, 300. (A rectangle with lower left corner at (0,0) and
top right corner at (500,300) will be created)
2.7 Setting text style:
2.7.1 For regular text: Select from the menu bar: Format > textstyle > standard >
Calibri > italic text height 5 press Apply
2.7.2 Preparing the symbols text style: Select from the menu bar: Format > textstyle >New
Type ‘Symbol’ for style name and click OK

Now the added text style ‘Symbol’ will appear in the Styles window. Click on it and select
font name as ‘symbol’, font style as ‘regular’, type text height as ‘5’ and click ‘Apply’

2.8 Setting dimension style: Select from the menu bar: Format > Dimension style > standard
> modify > primary units > precision 0;
2.8.1 Setting arrow in dimension style: Format > Dimension style > standard > modify >
symbols and arrows > arrow size 0.5
2.8.2 Setting dimension scale: Type ‘dimscale’ at command prompt and hit on ‘Enter’.
Type ‘10’ at command prompt and hit ‘Enter’.
2.9 Setting line type scale: Type ‘ltscale’ at command prompt and hit ‘Enter’. Type ‘10’ at
command prompt and hit ‘Enter’.
2.10 Setting different line types: Select in the tool bar: Format > Line type: A ‘Line Type
Manager’ window will appear
Select Load and select ‘Hidden’ > OK
Select Load and select ‘Center’ > OK > OK

3. Save as Template: Save the current file as a template so that it may used for future
drawing. This can be done by selecting the file type to be saved as a .dwt file.
Note: Use the AutoCAD template file “EGTemplate.dwt” in which all the settings have been
included, to create each drawing file:
(i) Open the “EGTemplate.dwt” file.
(ii) Saveas a .dwg file and then start drawing

4. Some important Shortcut Keys:

• F3 OSnap On/Off
• F7 Grid On/Off
• F8 Ortho On/Off
• F9 Snap On/Off
• F10 Polar Tracking On/Off
 • F11 Automatic Object Snaping On/Off
• F12 Dynamic input ON/OFF
• F5 Iso plane toggle between top/right/left planes (useful in Isometric projections)

5. Show/Hide Command prompt: The command prompt itself can be made available/non-
available by toggling by hitting the dual keys “Ctrl & 9”.

6. Some of the commonly used short commands:

Command Utility
DS  Drafting settings (snap/grid/etc. settings)
Draw commands:
L  Line
PL  Polyline
C  Circle
ELLIPSE  Ellipse
PELLIPSE  Used for drawing a circle/ellipse which is editable
(i) type ‘PELLIPSE’ at command prompt and press enter
(ii) type 1 at command prompt and press enter (default value of
pellipse will be 0)
(iii) now use ellipse command to draw a circle (major axis = minor
axis) or ellipse which will now be editable.
A  Arc
RECTANG  Rectangle
DO  Donut
PE  Polyline edit
DT  Dynamic Text (Single line text)
MT  Multi-Line Text
TORIENT  Orients text (Angular orientation)
TCIRCLE  Puts a circle around a text written using DT/MT
Modify Commands:
E  Erase
BR  Break
TR  Trim
EX  Extend
CO  Copy
M  Move
MI  Mirror
MA  Match Properties
O  Offset
LEN  Lengthen
ARRAYRECT  Rectangular Array
ARRAYPOLAR  Polar Array
Dimensioning:
DIMLIN Linear Dimensioning
DIMALI Aligned Dimensioning
DIMANG Angular Dimensioning
DIMRAD Radius Dimensioning
DIMDIA Diameter Dimensioning
View Commands:
Z A Zoom > All
ZW Zoom > Window
ZP Zoom > Previous
Commonly used Symbols
q 
a α
b β
f 
o
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