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AutoCAD 2015 and AutoCAD LT 2015 Bible

The most comprehensive AutoCAD book around!

Move objects between model and paper space

Let’s say that you add some text in your drawing, but then decide that the text should really be in a Notes box in your title block.

Or, you add some text in your title block and then think, “No, it should be part of the drawing.”

You can move objects from model space to […]

Slim down your drawings with the PURGE command

Are your drawings bloated for no obvious reason? When you insert a block, is there a long list of blocks that aren’t in the drawing? Ditto for layers?

Oversized drawings load more slowly, take up more storage space, and take longer to save.

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Then you need the PURGE […]

Update: Convert text to Mtext and back

This is an update of an earlier post Convert Text to Mtext and Vice Versa.

AutoCAD offers several types of text or annotation objects. Some are for dimensions or at the end of leaders, for example. But the most common type is text that you use as labels–and there are 2 types. The original type […]

AutoCAD 2016 – 30 releases young and still going strong – Part 2

This is a guest post from Lee Ambrosius, who was my co-author for the AutoCAD 2015 and AutoCAD 2015 LT Bible. As you can tell from the photo, he’s a runner — even in some pretty cold Wisconsin weather! Lee is both an Autodesk Authorized Developer and Authorized Author. He’s also the author of the […]

AutoCAD 2016 – 30 releases young and still going strong – Part 1

This is a guest post from Lee Ambrosius, who was my co-author for the AutoCAD 2015 and AutoCAD 2015 LT Bible. As you can tell from the photo, he’s a runner — even in some pretty cold Wisconsin weather! Lee is both an Autodesk Authorized Developer and Authorized Author. He’s also the author of the […]

Customize how the multi-functional grip menu works

Multi-functional grips have been around since AutoCAD 2012 and they give you a menu of options when you hover over a grip or right-click a selected grip. Here you see the multi-functional grip menu for one of the vertices on a polyline.

By default, you can also repeatedly press the Ctrl key to cycle between […]

Old AutoCAD drawings? It’s time to update them!

Do you have REALLY old AutoCAD drawings? Many people keep drawings for years and years. But some older settings may make editing difficult. Here are some ideas for updating your old drawings.

Blocks without previews or descriptions

In older versions of AutoCAD, blocks didn’t have previews, like the kind you now see in the DesignCenter […]

Edit block attribute properties with BATTMAN

After you create a block with attributes and give the attributes specific values, you can edit block attribute properties with the Block Attribute Manager — the BATTMAN command. I explain how to create attributes (and why) in “Tutorial: Create attributes.” The attributes that you can edit are:

Tag name, prompt name, default value Prompt order […]

Editing the value of a block attribute

When you create and insert a block with attributes, you provide values for each of the attributes. But if you made a mistake or the value changes, you need to edit the attribute’s value. You use the EATTEDIT command for editing the value of a block attribute. Here are the steps:

Choose Insert, Block panel, […]

Use and control multifunctional grips for faster editing

Multifunctional grips are small, contextual menus that let you edit the properties of an object or component. Use them to quickly edit objects.

For example, when you draw a rectangle, each vertex has multifunctional grips that let you add, remove, or stretch that vertex.

Similarly, an array has multifunctional grips that let […]