Prior to AutoCAD 2000 you could end the LINE command by right-clicking with your mouse. That was because the right mouse button was programmed to be equivalent to pressing Enter. However, starting in AutoCAD 2000, right-clicking opens up a shortcut menu. One of the options on that menu is Enter which you can click to end the LINE command, but who wants to take that extra step? You use the LINE command so often, at least it should be easy. Here are three very different approaches to solving this annoyance:
- De-activate the shortcut menus. Start the OPTIONS command and choose the User Preferences tab. Then click Right-click Customization. You can then make several choices from the dialog box. Dean Urevig suggests the following settings: Default Mode-Repeat Last Command. Edit Mode-Shortcut Menu. Command Mode-Enter. However, this approach gets rid of all your shortcut menus except when you are editing a selected object. I still like to use the shortcut menus for choosing command options. So you may want to try one of the other approaches. Glen Beech suggests checking the Turn On Time-Sensitive Right-Click check box. This makes a quick right-click equivalent to pressing Enter, and a longer right-click displays the shortcut menu. Then keep the other defaults.
- Create a one line ribbon button. Many of the lines you draw are drawn one line at a time. You can create a ribbon button that automatically ends the LINE command after you draw one line. The menu item will read: ^C^C_line;\\; For more information on creating a custom ribbon button, see “Tutorial: Add Add a button to the ribbon in AutoCAD.” I love this option; if you create this button, I predict that you’ll use it a lot.
- Is your mouse several inches away from your keyboard? Or even at a different height? If you can place it next to the keyboard, you can just reach over with your thumb and press Enter on the numeric pad to end the LINE command. Vicki S. Mangum and Kyle Pettibone both suggested using your left hand to hit the spacebar. Your left hand is free and the spacebar is big! Marvin Henrie uses the Escape key. Thanks for these tips!
If you have a three-button mouse, you can customize its buttons. Then you can use the third button as an Enter button.
Ellen Finkelstein is the author of the best-selling AutoCAD & AutoCAD LT Bible, which started with R14. Ellen has written extensively on AutoCAD, including articles for Autodesk’s website and features for AutoCAD’s Help system. Ellen’s first book was AutoCAD For Dummies Quick Reference.
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I recommend getting a 5 button mouse such as Logitech MX-518. Program the rear thumb button for “Enter” and the forward thumb button for “Esc.” This is incredibly efficient with Autocad and almost every other program. Once you do this for a while you will be very annoyed to use someone else’s computer in which this not available (especially if they have a programmable mouse but are too lazy/inept to do so).
i suggest to press ESC button…you know as simple as that 🙂
[…] The backslashes pause for you to specify the start and end points of the line. The semi-colon ends the command. I have an old tip on ways to end the LINE command quickly here. […]