LT Unlimited

Pan a Specified Distance

You can PAN specific distances with the View-->Pan-->Point command. (Or with "-P (note the dash) at the command line.) This command asks you to pick two points, the first of which must be selected with the mouse. Entering the second point at the command line (either in the "#,#" format or with polar or ortho tracking) moves the drawing by that amount. Selecting a second point with the mouse moves the view from the location of the first point to the location of the second point.

Multiple Grips

When using grips to stretch an object, you can select more than one grip at a time. Just select an object (so the blue grips are showing) and hold SHIFT as you select grips to make "hot" (they'll turn red). When you've selected all your grips, release SHIFT and click on one of the red grips again. Now all the red grips will stretch together, leaving the unselected ones behind.

Line Break in Table

To force a line break within text in a table cell, use ALT+Enter. (As with most other AutoCAD table functions, it’s just like Excel.)

Palette Shortcuts

You can quickly toggle several palettes and dialogs on and off with keyboard shortcuts. Some of the more useful ones:

• Ctrl+1: Properties Window
• Ctrl+2: Design Center
• Ctrl+3: Tool Palettes
• Ctrl+4: Sheet Set Manager
• Ctrl+7: Markup Set Manager
• Ctrl+8: QuickCalc

Linetype Generation

Normally, when you draw a polyline with a non-continuous linetype (like HIDDEN or CENTER), the linetype stops and starts at each vertex. This ensures that there is a solid line at each corner. However, sometimes this isn't the desired effect, usually because the distance between vertices is too short to display the linetype. If this happens, simply click on the polyline, open the Properties dialog box, and go to the bottom for the "Linetype Generation" option (under "Misc"). Change it to "Enabled" -- now the linetype stops at the beginning of the polyline and goes all the way to the end, so even short segments can display the correct pattern.

Paste to Original Coordinates

To quickly and accurately copy items between plans, or viewports between drawings, use "Edit-->Paste to Original Coordinates" (also available from the right-click menu).

Xref Path Types

When you insert an xref, there are three options for the path type:

1. No path: When you attach an xref with no path, AutoCAD first looks for the xref in the folder of the host drawing.
2. Full path: When you attach an xref with a full path, the xref's precise location is saved to the host drawing. This option is the most precise but the least flexible. If you move a project folder, AutoCAD cannot resolve any xrefs that are attached with a full path.
3. Relative path: When you attach an xref with a relative path, the xref's location relative to the host drawing is saved. This option is the most flexible. If you move a project folder, AutoCAD can resolve xrefs attached with a relative path, as long as the xref's location relative to the host drawing has not changed.

Many people (me included) recommend using "relative path" for your xrefs, since it's the most flexible option.

"Smooth" View Transitions

AutoCAD recently (in version 2006) changed the way it zooms, so that view changes that used to be instantaneous are now “smooth”. You can see an example of this if you zoom in to a small area of a drawing and then double-click the mouse wheel to zoom to extents.

Most people probably don’t mind one way or the other, but if you’d like it to go back to the old way, set VTENABLE to 0. (Setting it to 3 will restore the default behavior.)

Single-line Text

When creating single-line text, hitting enter will start a new line directly below the previous one. If you want to enter text somewhere else, though, just click somewhere else (instead of hitting enter) and keep typing! The only disadvantage is that osnaps are turned off while selecting the new start point.

Oops!

You can use the OOPS command to restore lost objects -- defined as the last objects removed with the ERASE command. The advantage to this is that you don't have to undo all the work you've done since you erased the object.