Author Archives: AutoCAD Tips

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About AutoCAD Tips

This blog serves as a knowledge base for myself (and anyone else) so that I can reference tips & tricks that I have learned and also refer others to it as well. I hope that this blog helps you learn at least one tip to make your drafting/design experience better.

XREF Attachment Type System Variable

Posted on April 9, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

When attaching XREFs to your drawings, the choice to insert them as an “Overlay” or as an “Attachment” may not be so clear and might be confusing. Overlay – only the XREF that is selected is referenced in the current … Continue reading →

Posted in TIPS, XREFs | 2 Comments

AutoCAD 2013: Offset Preview

Posted on April 4, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

Simliar to the preview functionality that was added last year with AutoCAD 2012 found in the Fillet command and BLEND tool, The OFFSET/CHAMFER command now has a preview in AutoCAD 2013. There isn’t any other new functionality in the command … Continue reading →

Posted in AutoCAD 2013, BASICS, Modifying, New In 2013 | Leave a comment

AutoLISP: Globally Change XREF Attachment Type

Posted on April 3, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

If you need to Changeall of the way in which XREF’s are attached this routine is for you. This routine will change all XREFs in a drawing to either “Overlay” or “Attached.” Here’s How: X2A <enter> = All XREFs to … Continue reading →

Posted in AutoLISP, AutoLISP XREFs, AutoLISP: Modify, XREFs | 2 Comments

AutoCAD 2013: Paper Space Viewports

Posted on April 1, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

With the new addition of the panel in the “View” tab that only pertains to Model Space viewports [shown here], you might want to know where to set your Paper Space viewports. In AutoCAD 2013, you now have a new … Continue reading →

Posted in AutoCAD 2013, BASICS, Layout, New In 2013, TIPS, Viewports | 47 Comments

AutoLISP: External Contours of Objects

Posted on March 29, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

This routine is helpful if you have overlapping objects that form a closed area and you would like to combine them into one overall closed object. This is like the UNION command but for 2D closed areas. Here’s how: ECO … Continue reading →

Posted in AutoLISP, AutoLISP: Creating, AutoLISP: Modify, AutoLISP: Polylines | 3 Comments

AutoCAD 2013: Viewport Configuration Preview

Posted on March 28, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

This is a great improvement in AutoCAD 2013. Located in the new panel called “Model Viewports” on the View tab of the ribbon is the normal dropdown list but the improvement is that now you have a preview of how … Continue reading →

Posted in AutoCAD 2013, BASICS, Customization, New In 2013, Settling In | 6 Comments

AutoCAD 2013: Add a Strikethrough to Text

Posted on March 28, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

You can now easily add a strikethrough to text objects such as MTEXT, MLeaders, Dimensions and text that is within Tables. Sorry, this doesn’t work for DTEXT (single line text). If you would like an automated way to add a … Continue reading →

Posted in AutoCAD 2013, Modifying, Text, TIPS | Leave a comment

AutoCAD 2013 The new Command Line

Posted on March 28, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

The command line is perhaps the most notable change in 2013 and I love it. It takes up less room on the screen and yet performs the same for those who don’t want change and yet performs very differently. The … Continue reading →

Posted in AutoCAD 2013, BASICS, Customization, New In 2013, Settling In | 80 Comments

AutoCAD 2013 Draw Order: Leaders

Posted on March 28, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

Now available in AutoCAD 2013 is a new draw order tool. This tool will bring all leader objects to the front of the draw order. The command for this tool is an option with the command TEXTTOFRONT <enter> Or The … Continue reading →

Posted in AutoCAD 2013, Leaders, Manage, Modifying, New In 2013, Text | 3 Comments

AutoCAD 2013 Annotation Monitor

Posted on March 28, 2012 by AutoCAD Tips

The new “Annotation Monitor” is shown as “AM” in the drafting setings toggles in the status bar. I suggest that users turn these settings to text instead of the icons. The reason for this is because what usually what happens … Continue reading →

Posted in AutoCAD 2013, Customization, Layout, New In 2013, Paper Space | Leave a comment