array of 3D Tools in AutoCAD. (For more on 3D modeling, see the Advanced AutoCAD® and AutoCAD® 3D Modeling Exercise Workbooks.)
How to select a workspace
1. Selecting a workspace is easy. Select the
2. Select one of the workspace names displayed.
Note: The “Drafting & Annotation” workspace will be used in this Workbook.
Application Menu
The Application Menu provides easy access to common tools. Each of the Tools will be discussed later in the Workbook.
1. Click on the Application Menu button in the upper left corner of the AutoCAD display screen. (The big “A”)
Open Documents
First let me emphasis this is not a method to “open” a drawing file.
Open Documents is a list of all documents that are already open within AutoCAD.
Display choice: The list of documents may be displayed as icons or images. If you hover the cursor over a document name, a preview image will appear.
View Recent Documents
When you select Recent Documents a list of the recently viewed documents will appear.
Display choices: This list may be displayed as icons or images and may be sorted in an ordered list or grouped by date or file type.
If you hover the cursor over a document name a preview image will appear.
Pinned Files
You can keep a file listed regardless of files that you save later using the push pin button to the right. The file is displayed at the bottom of the list until you turn off the push pin button.
Quick Access Toolbar
The Quick Access Toolbar is located in the top left-hand corner of the AutoCAD Window. It includes the most commonly used Tools, such as New, Open, Save, Save as, Print, Undo and Redo.
How to Customize the Quick Access Toolbar
You can add Tools with the Customize User Interface dialog box.
Example:
After you have completed Lesson 4 you will find that you will be using “Zoom All” often. So I added the "Zoom All” Tool to the Quick Access Toolbar. If you would like to add the "Zoom All” Tool, or any other Tool, to your Quick Access Toolbar follow the steps below.
1. Place the Cursor on the Quick Access Toolbar and press the right mouse button.
2. Select “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” from the menu.
3. Scroll through the list of Commands to “Zoom, All”
4. Press the Left mouse button on “Zoom, All” and drag it to a location on the Quick Access Toolbar and drop it by releasing the left mouse button.
5. Select the OK button at the bottom of the Customize User Interface dialog box.
The Customize User Interface dialog box will disappear and the new Quick Access Toolbar is saved to the current workspace.
To Remove a Tool:
Place the cursor on the Tool to remove and press the right mouse button.
Select “Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.”
Ribbon
The Ribbon provides access to the AutoCAD tools.
The Tabs contain multiple Panels. Each Panel contains multiple tools.
When you select a Tab a new set of Panels will appear.
Additional Tools: If you select the
Control the display of Tabs and Panels
Right click on the Ribbon and select which Tabs or Panels you choose to display. The check mark confirms the Tab or Panel is already displayed.
Control the Tab order
If you would like to change the order of the Tabs, click and drag the Tab horizontally to the new location.
Floating Panels
If you prefer to separate a Panel from the Ribbon, you may drag the Panel off the Ribbon to a new location on the screen.
Status Bar
The Status Bar is located on the bottom of the screen. It displays the current settings. These settings can be turned on or off by clicking on one of the buttons or by pressing a corresponding function key. For example, <F2>, <F3>, etc.
When an icon is turned on it will display blue in color.
Status Bar Icons
The Status Bar provides you with a set of commonly used drawing Tools like Grid Display, Snap, Object Snap and Isometric Drafting. You can choose to remove some or all of them, or you can choose to add more tools.
To add or remove Tools from the Status Bar.
1. Select and click on the Customization