Creating layouts and viewports have been around for a while; Viewports were introduced in Release 12 (1992), even though they functioned differently than what is commonly used as viewports today… The Layout function was introduced in Release 2000 (1999). So they are not new to AutoCAD, yet it is amazing how many times I hear or read of companies/individuals who do not use the power of “Paper Space.”
Here is how to make a new Layout (with its own Layout tab)
First off – If you do not see the default layout tabs, you may want to turn these on. enter OP<enter> to open the OPTIONS dialog box (or OPTIONS<enter>). Click the “Display” tab and then check the box next to “Display Layout and Model tabs” then click “OK” (seen below)
The easy way to make a Layout where you are confident in its settings is using a “wizard.” Some people are Wizard snobs and think that wizards are lame. But these wizards are very helpful. After all, our job requires us to strive for CLARITY & ACCURACY, not trying to be considered cool with the way we set up a layout…
After you go through the steps of the wizard and have your Layout, you can simply copy it and use it again without going through the wizard again.
To start the wizard: type LAYOUTWIZARD <enter> in the command line. Notice when the dialog box appears, that there are 8 steps and the good thing about the wizard is that you have the “Next” & “Back” buttons at the bottom of the dialog box so that you can easily go back and make corrections…
If you are using the “MENUBAR” go to the “Insert” tab > “Layout” fly-out > “Create Layout Wizard” to start the wizard that way as well. (as seen below)
Step 1 is to name your new layout tab. By default, AutoCAD will give you 2 generic layouts and given them generic names.
Step 2 is to assign the printer/plotter that you plan on using when printing this layout. If you are not connected to that plotter or away from the office, use the “None” option. This way you have all of the sheet sizes available to you. Otherwise assign the plotters accordingly.
Step 3 is to choose the sheet size that you plan on plotting to. It is important that you choose the correct size because there are a lot to choose from. If you are doing and architectural drawing make sure that you choose the “ARCH” prefix. And don’t choose the “oversize” if available either.
Step 4 is to assign the orientation of the sheet. “Landscape” or “Portrait” are the options. Choose the “Landscape” option if it isn’t already selected.
Step 5 is to assign a title-block to your layout. If you have your own title-block and it is not shown in the list, select the “None” option and insert it as a block later on. I will choose the generic title-block provided by AutoCAD for this tutorial.
Step 6 is where you can setup a viewport. To be honest, sometimes this is a pain so I don’t do much setup in this portion. What I do is set the viewport later. But you can define the # of viewports and even set their scale before even placing them.
To copy a layout, make sure that the copy checkbox is checked. If you don’t do this, you will only move the layout. In this dialog box, you can select where you want the new layout tab to be placed. 
AutoCAD Tips 
You Done Very Good Job Dude………
It’s Very Helpfull……..
When I open an AutoCAD drawing, it defaults to automatically open the last layout tab. I do 99% of all my work in Model space. Not only is this extremely annoying, it’s a major waste of time. I have to wait for the program to switch from Model to Layout, then I manually have to click Model and wait for that to load back in to start work. Do you know how to adjust/fix this issue. Thanks
Here are two possible solutions:
1) If you have a startup lisp like an acad.lsp or an acaddoc.lsp paste the next 2 lines into these files. It will check the current “tilemode” and set it to 1 which equals Model Space
(if (/= 1 (getvar ’tilemode))
(setvar ’tilemode 1))
2) Make a change to the workspace through the CUI editor so that model space is the default “space” that opens when you open AutoCAD.
CUI
Select the current Workspace
Then change the space under Properties
Gracias, quisiera saber porque si estoy en una ventana del layout, salgo de ella con la escala ya establecida y entro en otra ventana del mismo layout se activa la ventana anterior quedando zom extensión y otra pregunta como puedo girar el dibujo sin que afecte a las otras ventanas.
from google translate: “Thanks, let me know because if I’m in a layout window, I leave it to the scale already established and entered into another window of the same layout is activated the previous window being zom extension and other questions as I can rotate the drawing without affecting the other windows”
As a default behaviour of AutoCAD, when a new viewport is created, the extents of the drawing are applied to the viewport with it being centered on all objects in the drawing.
Rotating objects in Model space will rotate how the objects are currently displayed in existing viewports. If you need to rotate the view in the viewport, activate the viewport and use the DVIEW command and then use the “twist” option
thanks for the layout .. how do I determine my scale there, for ex I have created a viewport tht is 1:1
when i´m going to start with a new layout, i need define the area before start? or i can designe and creat the layout at the begining of the work
Reply
Daniel,
I think from your question, that you are either asking about the size of the 1) sheet, 2) titleblock or 2) viewport.
When using the LAYOUTWIZARD, it is helpful to know the size of the titleblock that will be inserted into the layout tab so that it will fit properly.
But the size of the sheet can be adjusted at any time by using the Page Setup Manager” PAGESETUP
Note: If you are doing all of your drafting in the Layout tab for a one-line drawing (for example: Electrical or P&ID) it is very important to have the layout tab with the title block set up prior to starting your drafting.
I hope this helps
~Greg
I thing is the easiest and fastest way to make a layout.
Thanks for the helpful blog!
I’m trying to merge multiple projects with multiple model spaces and layouts into one file. How would you recommend doing this without losing any of the associated information (such as survey data, plot configurations, or layers)? The only possibility I’ve looked into is using XREFs, but I seem to run into errors with formatting.
This is nice one..
Hi , how can we add a layout permanent in the acad VBA.when program runs ,it shows that layout if it gets that coding.
Setlayout “abc”
This doesn’t work by itself.
Please help me out.