The blog has moved!

Yes, the blog now has a new name, and a new home! Visit LT Unlimited at http://blogs.autodesk.com/ltunlimited for the latest & greatest tips, tricks, and news! This blog will stay up indefinitely (I don't think Blogger will make me take it down), but all the new content will be over at the Autodesk site. See you there -- tell all your friends!

Blog migration in progress

In case you've noticed the blog looking a little strange the past few days, we're in the middle of moving it over to a new system. So bear with us, and we'll be back up and running (with more tips & tricks) in a little while.

Help select classes for Autodesk University!

Autodesk wants your help in deciding what classes will be presented at Autodesk University 2008. All the submitted sessions (over 600!) have been organized into 19 tracks by either industry or product. We're asking you to take a look through the tracks and vote for your 15 favorites. I know, choosing 15 out of 600 is hard, but it will really help the AU team decide which classes will be the most beneficial to attendees. I submitted two classes this year, both focused on working in mixed-program environments. Many offices now are using multiple Autodesk products, whether LT, Design Review, some other flavor of AutoCAD, or one of the Revit programs, and there are things to know about all of them to get them to play nicely together. In the Customization track: Customization 101 -- AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT In the CAD Management track: CAD Management in a Mixed-Program Environment The first is dedicated to cross-platform customizations (CUI, macro, tool palettes, etc.). The second will focus on broader CAD management issues, like licensing & installation, as well as more specific customization topics.

Please take a minute to vote! The survey will be open until May 3, 2008. Vote now!

Registration for AU will start on August 15th, and one week earlier for AU members. Class schedules will be available for review by August 1st.

Autodesk Experience Tour DC

I'll be at the DC (well, northern Virginia) stop of the Autodesk Experience Tour tomorrow -- if you're going too, come say hello!

LT 2009 Tip #2 -- In-place Spell Check

If you've done any annotating in LT 2009, you've probably noticed the in-place spell check. If you haven't seen it, start typing some text and deliberately make a typo. See the dotted red line? Right-click on the underlined word to get a shortcut menu of suggestions. You can also choose to ignore the word, or add it to the dictionary. Added words go into your custom dictionary (see Options for the file location). Not on LT 2009 yet? The SPELL command is still available to you; you just have to run it manually.

LT 2009 Tip #1 -- Search Menu Browser

I do plan to keep up with the general LT tips (I know not everybody has 2009 yet), but this latest version does have lots of new stuff that's worth talking about. So here's the first in a series of tips on new LT features! Search the Menu Browser The keyboard shortcut ALT+S will put you right into the search bar of the Menu Browser, so you can start typing your search term without ever moving the mouse. Then you can use the up/down arrow keys or your mouse to select the desired command.

Follow-up: Trim Hatches

After I posted about trimming hatches, terbgrave asked, "Why does this only work some of the time when you are trying to trim solid hatches? and it works sometimes when you pick in the perfect spot but nowhere else on the hatch?" I agree, solid hatches can be a bit temperamental when you try to select them. My best guess would be that it's because solid hatches don't have "lines" or "points" the way other patterns do. You may have to be a little patient & hover your cursor over different spots until you get the hatch, but it will eventually show up. I also just received a comment asking about this feature in previous versions of AutoCAD, but I believe it wasn't introduced until LT 2007.

Up and running again

Well, I've finally had a chance to open up LT 2009 and take a look around. I know the feedback on the web hasn't been 100% positive, but overall I like what I see. The new interface will take some getting used to, but I think it will turn out to be a good change. I'm a few weeks behind the rest of you, though, since I was on vacation when 2009 launched, and it'll be a little while before I have good blog posts up. In the meantime, I'm digging through my comments to see if I can answer some of them as new posts. I like getting comments, and I like answering them, but I'm sometimes afraid that the answers will get lost if they're just in comments. (I think searches work better on posts.) I will probably be re-hosting the blog in the next couple weeks as well (don't worry, I'll try to not lose anybody! or anything), so the more in-depth posts will probably wait until then too. For now check out my CAD links for more 2009 news, and if you'd like to see your blog/site there, feel free to drop me an e-mail.

The end of an era...

While I don't quite believe that all good things come to an end, I guess some do. I have greatly enjoyed my 4+ years at my current employer, but in the immortal words of The Godfather, I received an offer I couldn't refuse. :-) Beginning April 1st, I will be joining Autodesk as the AutoCAD LT Technical Marketing Manager. I'm really excited to have the chance to work with this excellent (if occasionally under-appreciated!) product, and am very much looking forward to this next phase of my career. The blog will be on hiatus for a couple weeks during the transition, but it will be back after the 1st and hopefully better than ever. Stay tuned!

Quickly Create AutoCAD Table from Excel Data

If you already have a table or schedule in Excel, you can quickly convert it to an AutoCAD table. Simply open Excel, select the cells you want, and Ctrl+C. Switch to AutoCAD, go to Edit-->Paste Special, and select “AutoCAD Entities”. Voila – there’s your table. Now, it may not look exactly the way you want it to. Select the table, right-click, and choose “remove property overrides” to get it to match a defined table style. The column and row sizes may still be off, but it’s a lot quicker to grip-edit them to the right size than it would have been to re-create the table!

Retroactively Create Separate Hatches

Say you've hatched a bunch of objects, and only afterwards realized that you meant to have the "create separate hatches" option checked. Is your only choice now to delete them and start over? Nope -- this option can be applied retroactively through the Hatch Edit command. Simply double-click on the hatch, check the "create separate hatches" option, and click OK. All hatch "islands", whether defined by "pick points" or "select objects", will become separate entities ready to be further edited at will.

RSS Subscription Simplified

There's now a "Subscribe Now" link on the main page (below the "Blog Archive"), in case anyone was having trouble finding the feed. If I ever have to change any of this, I'm sunk, but in the meantime it all seems to be working. :-)

Dynamic Blocks and Layer 0

Strange things can happen to your dynamic blocks if layer 0 (zero, in case the font makes it look like an "O") is off or frozen. Many people (me included) create blocks with entities on layer 0, so they inherit the properties of the layer on which they’re inserted. (It’s why the same steel shape can display the proper color for new or existing, depending on whether it’s on a “new” layer or an “existing” layer.) So if you’re having trouble getting a hatch to follow its outline, or are unable to edit attributes, check layer 0.

Shade Table Cells

It’s possible to give individual cells in your AutoCAD tables a shaded background! Simply left-click on the cell to select it, open the Properties window, and look for “Background Fill”. Select the color you want, and you’re done. Keep in mind that any color that prints black will obscure any text in the cell. Most company's pen tables have a "screened" color or two (ours is color 8) that will print lighter, so it can be used for emphasis without hiding the text. If you're printing in color, though, you're only limited by your creativity.

Recreate Hatch Boundary

A hatch that has lost its boundary (and has therefore become non-associative) is not necessarily a lost cause. The new “Recreate Boundary” option in the Hatch Edit dialog saves you from having to delete the hatch and start over. Simply double-click on the troublesome hatch and select “Recreate Boundary”. You’ll be asked if you want the new boundary to be a region or a polyline. Polylines are more flexible than regions, but the resulting boundary will be lots of separate polylines. Which works, but unfortunately, joining the polylines together into a single object disassociates the hatch again. (Oh well, you can’t have it all.) Then you’ll be asked if you want to associate the hatch with the new boundary. Considering that the most obvious reason you would want the boundary back is to edit it, you’ll probably want to say yes. Click OK to exit Hatch Edit.

AutoCAD LT 2009 -- First Thoughts

So I just took 5 minutes to read the LT 2009 Preview Guide (available at Between the Lines), and here's my initial take. It looks like a lot of stuff will be appearing in both releases, so I just tried to find the LT-specific stuff:

• The interface changes are huge! I think they'll be good, but it'll take a while to get used to it. (Okay, not LT-specific, but big enough to be worth mentioning.)
• The Steering Wheels have been around in Design Review for a long time, but I haven't found them much more useful than the mouse wheel so far...we will see.
• The guide says that LT 2009 can grip-edit xclip boundaries, but it doesn't say if they can be created. (I hope they can!)
• LT can now create non-rectangular viewports. (Finally!)
• It can also attach & detach images. (No more copy-paste!)
• True Color & color book support is now included. (That doesn't mean much to me, but I bet there are a bunch of people out there for whom it does.)
• And it now has full field support! (Woohoo!)

All in all, it looks like it'll be a good release -- plenty of new features, even if they're geared more towards usability than "drawing" tools.

AutoCAD 2009 Coming Soon!

Yes, it's that time of year again -- time to start previewing the new features that will be available in AutoCAD 2009, which will be released in March. I didn't get my own preview copy, but here's what several other people have had to say about it so far: AutoCAD 2009 in 2 minutes The Word Is Out...AutoCAD 2009! AutoCAD 2009 Is Knocking at the Door! The 2009 Products Including AutoCAD 2009 Stay tuned for more press releases & reviews as the release date draws near...

Fun blog -- Indexed

I have a new blog to add to my list of favorites: Indexed. I saw it a few days ago over on RobiNZ CAD Blog, and it's wonderful. The author, Jessica Hagy, describes the site as "... a little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math." If you've never found humor in a Venn diagram, you should check it out. :-)

Add Object to Hatch

Let's say you've hatched an area of your drawing, but now you need to add a note, symbol, or some other thing in the middle of it -- and you don't want the hatch to obscure your new object. Rather than erasing the hatch and starting over, simply double-click on it to launch the HATCHEDIT command (also under Modify-->Object-->Hatch). From the options on the right, select "Add Objects" and pick to select your objects. Click OK, and your hatch now follows around the outside of your text/block/whatever.

Unwanted Lists in Multi-line Text

There have been a lot of improvements in multi-line text in the last several releases, from tabs in 2004 through columns in 2008. One of the best improvements, though (in my opinion), was the introduction of automatic numbered & bulleted lists. However, there are times when they don't quite work the way we want them to. In our office, our standard abbreviations are contained in mtext. Since the format is the abbreviation (usually ending with a period), followed by a TAB, then the actual word, AutoCAD decides that this is a lettered list. So when you try to modify it, say, to add a project-specific abbreviation, the next line after "TYP. TYPICAL" becomes "TYQ.", with no way to change it. To work around this:

• Double-click on the mtext you want to change.
• Right-click in the editor or click the Options arrow (on the toolbar at the top of the editor) and uncheck Bullets and Lists-->Allow Bullets and Lists.
• You will get a warning that you have turned off bullets and lists for this entity. This is a true statement. However, you have also turned off bullets and lists COMPLETELY. They won't work in any drawing until you turn them on again.
• Make the edits to your "list".
• Right-click in the editor or click the Options arrow (on the toolbar at the top of the editor) and re-check Bullets and Lists-->Allow Bullets and Lists. This step is VERY IMPORTANT, because as mentioned above, you won't get any automatic numbering or bullets until you turn it back on.

Rename named objects

You can change the name of “named objects” (such as layers, blocks, linetypes, etc.) with the RENAME command. It brings up a dialog listing the object category on the left, the specific object types on the right, and two fields at the bottom for the old and new name. After you select an instance to rename (wildcards such as * work to select multiple instances) and have entered in the new name, you have two options. Clicking “rename to” applies the change to the selected objects and leaves the dialog box open for more selections. Clicking “OK” applies the change and exits the command. (I’m not sure why they didn’t just have an “apply” button like most other dialogs of this nature.) This tool should be used with care, since most of the objects here are usually defined in accordance with company standards & shouldn’t be modified, but it’s nevertheless a useful command to know.

RSS Feed Fixed -- I think

I hadn't realized that my RSS feed broke after I switched to FeedBurner -- I didn't quite understand the difference between all the different URLs on their site. However, I think it's back up and running now, although you still may need to re-subscribe. (Maybe -- like I said, I'm not entirely sure how these things work.) I had time to fix it courtesy of Montgomery County -- I had to report for jury service today, although so far I haven't done anything except wait in the juror lounge. If lawyers weren't so picky, they wouldn't need to call 300 people just to get 50 jurors. Oh, well, it's a change of pace and it'll be back to work tomorrow!

Trim Hatches

Hatches can now be trimmed just like many other AutoCAD objects. The only catch is that you must select a boundary for trimming (you can’t hit enter to select all eligible objects). If the hatch was already associated with the original boundary (i.e. you could stretch the boundary and the hatch would follow), it’ll also be associated with the new boundary. For hatches that are already non-associative (missing or detached from their boundaries for whatever reason), this can be a much faster method of editing them than deleting & recreating.

Get to know dynamic block grips

Everyone's familiar with the little square blue grips that show up on AutoCAD objects like line, arcs, circles, etc. But 2006 introduced Dynamic Blocks, and with them came a whole new set of grips, light-blue in color and with shapes that identify their functionality. Here's a quick rundown on the new grips:

Preview Your Selection

New in AutoCAD 2006 was the ability to "preview" selected objects -- in other words, if you hover over an object, it gets a little thicker and dashed so you can see that it would be selected if you left-clicked there. There are lots of options to control this display; experiment to see what combination suits you best. To globally turn this on or off, go to Tools-->Options-->Selection tab, under "Selection Preview". To see more options, click the "Visual Effects Settings" button. Now you can set previewed objects to dashed, thickened, or both, and set the "area preview" (your crossing and window selections) color and effects. Still not happy with how it works? Click the "Advanced Options" in the Visual Effects box. Now you can choose which objects are affected by the selection preview. Personally, I exclude xrefs and objects on locked layers from the preview. Many people exclude hatches as well, since they can be a little distracting if they're large and are constantly flashing on and off. One final tip for taking advantage of the Selection Preview effects: If you have two objects on top of each other, and hover over them, one will highlight. If you'd rather select the other, use CTRL+Space. This cycles through all objects available for selection. I find this to be the biggest advantage of the selection preview. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the command-line fans out there, here are all the system variables that control the above-referenced effects:

• SELECTIONPREVIEW
• PREVIEWEFFECT
• SELECTIONAREA
• WINDOWAREACOLOR
• CROSSINGAREACOLOR
• SELECTIONAREAOPACITY
• PREVIEWFILTER

Where'd everybody go?

Wednesdays are typically when I send out my "Tip of the Week" to the office (and then post it here), but there's nobody here to read it! Most of my co-workers have wisely taken this week off, so the tip of the week will too. Hopefully I'll have some inspiring new tips & tricks to post in the new year. :-)

Images in LT

Well, it's the last day of work before a nice four-day holiday weekend, followed by a three-day week, and another four-day holiday weekend, and another three-day week...the only thing that will save the next two weeks from unproductivity is that everyone *else* will be on vacation. Occasionally it's nice to have some peace and quiet to work in. :-) You probably already know that you can't attach an image to a drawing in LT the way you can with full. (At least, not yet -- I live in hope.) In the meantime, you have a couple of options. First, you can cut and paste from your favorite image editor (like Paint or Photoshop). This has the advantage of actually embedding the image in the drawing file, so you don't have to worry about including it when you send the drawing to someone. Manipulating these images (actually OLE objects) can be a little tricky, though, so I tend to avoid it. Second, you can get somebody with full to attach it for you. :-) Once it's in there, you have all the same commands available as in the full version, except detach. You can move, scale, rotate, etc. as much as you want. Don't have a buddy or co-worker with full? It's okay -- as long as you have a drawing with an image already in it (several people have posted them to various newgroups & sites), simply modify the name and path to point to the image you want. If you want more images than are in the drawing you started with, though...either find a new template, or use one of the two methods mentioned above.

Input History Mode

Most AutoCAD keyboard junkies (including me) learned a long time ago that hitting the "up" arrow retrieved the last thing you typed. (Handy for correcting typos!) With the advent of dynamic input, though, that seemed to have disappeared. Enter the system variable INPUTHISTORYMODE. This is a slightly complicated variable, dealing with the recent coordinate input as well as recent command input. It can have any value between 0 and 15. The default is 15, so hitting the up arrow displays recent coordinates if you're in a command, and recent commands if you're not. Recent Input sections are also displayed in shortcut menus and the dynamic tooltip (if it's on). Values from 1-14 control various combinations of shortcut menu and command line displays; see the help file if you're curious. Setting INPUTHISTORYMODE to zero means that no recent input is displayed, and when you hit the up arrow, you get the last thing you typed. Personally, I set it back to 0 as soon as I realized this variable existed.

Customize Places List

When you open a file from AutoCAD, there’s a blue bar along the left, known as the Places list, with icons for My Documents, Favorites, FTP, etc. You probably see it every day. But did you know you can customize those shortcuts? Simply select the folder in the explorer view, left-click, and drag it over to the Places list. Alternatively, right-click in the Places list and select “Add current folder.” You can rename the new shortcut by right-clicking on it and selecting Properties. If you don’t like your changes, right-click on the icon and select Remove, or “Restore Standard Folders” to put it back to normal. This doesn’t affect any other programs – actually it doesn’t appear to work at all in any other programs, which is too bad. If you know of an exception, send it on in.

Greetings from Autodesk University!

Yes, the tips are taking a break this week while I attend Autodesk University in Las Vegas -- I need to acquire more tips! If there are any blog readers out there who are also out here this week, come say hello -- it's always good to meet new people. Today's post is just to promise more tips and pictures when I get home -- the card reader is at home, so I can't post pictures yet, and my brain and notebooks are so stuffed with great information that I can't pick just one nugget to use as a tip. I'll have to use the plane ride home to sort them out and come up with the next round of useful information. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving -- only 4 weeks 'til Christmas!

Table Grips & Right-Click Menus

The grips and right-click menus available for tables depend on what part of the table you have selected. Single-left-clicking on one of the table lines selects the whole table. The grips that show up now let you change the overall width and height of the table (expanding rows and columns equally), or to change the width of an individual column. The right-click menu contains the global table options, such as “size all rows equally”. Single-left-click in an empty space or on text, though, and you get a whole new set of options. Now, just a single cell is selected. Grips here change only the height or width of the appropriate row or column, and the right-click menu contains cell-specific commands such as alignment and formatting. If you left-click in an empty space, but hold down the button and drag, you can select a range of cells. The grips work the same as the overall table grips (rows and columns are resized equally), but the right-click menu is the same as for a single cell. However, if you select multiple cells, right-click, and pick “inserts rows/columns”, AutoCAD will insert multiples rows/columns – as many as you have selected. (This tip applies mostly to 2007+; tables first appeared in 2006, but had very limited functionality.)

Dealing with Error Messsages

Error messages are important! Yes, I know they occasionally show up with such frequency that we just want them to go away, but you need to know what it said so you can fix it. So the next time you get a pop-up message you’re not expecting, take a second to read it. If you understand what it says, go ahead and click OK or cancel or whatever you need. If you don’t know what to do with it, though, either go find someone who might know, or take a screenshot (see below) and send it to them. Ideally, you’ll also jot down exactly what you were doing before the problem popped up. This way, those of us doing the troubleshooting can have a better idea of what happened, and maybe how to fix it. To take a screenshot:

1. Hit Alt+PrintScreen to capture the active window.
2. Open your favorite image software (Paint works just fine).
3. Edit-->Paste or Ctrl+V.
4. Save.

If you just need the text of the error message, Mike Perry pointed out that Ctrl+C will get just the that, which you can then paste into an e-mail or text file. It works for Vista & XP; more info is here. The nice thing about this is that you don't have to mess with an image file if you don't really need one.

Create Separate Hatches

There’s a new option (2006 and up, I think) in the Hatch command called “create separate hatches.” While it has the potential to be a wonderful tool, it can be really annoying as well. For example, it’s great for columns, but terrible if you have grid lines crossing walls, or rebar forming closed loops in concrete. If you’re not careful, you could end up with a wall hatched with a hundred different pieces – imagine trying to edit that! If you are going to use this option, be sure that you turn off ALL extraneous geometry, i.e. everything that is not necessary for defining the hatch boundary. You need to do this because with this option, every point or object you pick becomes the boundary of a separate hatch. To be on the safe side, turn off everything you don’t need, and turn it on again after you hatch.

Fonts in AutoCAD

AutoCAD supports two types of fonts – TTF and SHX. TTF are Windows-based fonts, like Arial and Times New Roman, and must be installed on your computer (in C:\Windows\Fonts for Windows XP) before AutoCAD will recognize them. Plotting weight of TTF fonts is controlled by "bold" options, if available. SHX fonts are shape-based, and only have to be put in a support file that AutoCAD searches in order to display properly. Unlike TTF's, their plotting weight depends on the color of the text (with CTB plotting) or the plot style (with STB plotting). You should always check with your clients & consultants to make sure everyone has all the fonts they need -- some have special characters that don't display properly if you substitute a different font.

AUGI Salary Survey

Have *you* taken the AUGI Salary survey yet? http://www.augi.com/surveys/salary2007.asp?page=682 It's quick, easy, free, and will soon be compiled into lots of valuable information by Melanie Perry (aka Mistress of the Dorkness). Not an AUGI member yet? No problem -- registration is simple, and membership is free. It provides lots of resources, from user forums to online training to tons of useful articles on all things Autodesk. Head over to www.augi.com to check it out!

TAB to find Commands & Variables

If you remember the first few letters of an AutoCAD command or variable, but have forgotten the rest, the TAB key can help. Just type what you do remember, and hit TAB repeatedly until the one you want pops up. (Another tip for 2006+ users...)

Combine Multiple Tooltips

Setting the variable TOOLTIPMERGE to 1 (the default is 0) allows you to show more than one line in the dynamic display. For example, when drawing a line, you can see both “Specify next point” and distance entry boxes. It’s convenient for showing text that appears on the command line, but that gets overridden by the dynamic distance display. (This tip is for 2006+) TOOLTIPMERGE = 0 TOOLTIPMERGE = 1

Drag-edit Attribute Text

(This tip was posted a few days ago over on CADing & Coding, and I thought it was worth repeating.) When editing block attributes, you can drag-and-drop text between fields (not just within them). Say you enter information on the wrong line – just highlight it with the mouse and click-and-drag it to the right field. This tip is especially for LT users, since it doesn't work with the Enhanced Attribute Editor. There you still have to cut & paste.

Well, I've run through my archive

Yes, I've finally posted all my accumulated tips from the last 3+ years. This means my post frequency will probably drop off somewhat, since I don't have pre-made tips ready to go. There will still be a new tip at least once a week; more often if I find a good one to share right away. Or if you have a tip of your own to share, send it on in -- I'll be happy to publish it & credit it appropriately. :-)

Stacked Fractions in Mtext

There are three options for stacking text in mtext objects:

• / - Stacks text with a horizontal slash
• # - Stacks text with a diagonal slash
• ^ - Stacks text with no slash

You can set your preferred default with AutoStack (inside the text editor, right-click on an existing fraction and select AutoStack).

Solid Hatches

When hatching an object that is intended to print completely filled in, don't use a small-scale non-solid hatch. AutoCAD comes with a SOLID hatch pattern -- it's usually best to use that instead.

Distance in Layouts

If you’re in a layout and want to measure a distance in modelspace, you don’t need to activate the viewport or switch to modelspace to get it. Instead, just snap to your modelspace points, and AutoCAD will automatically return the real distance. If you want the “paper” distance instead, you’ll have to snap to layout geometry – an easy way is to draw a construction line and measure it. (This tip is for users of 2007 & 2008 only.)

Centering Dimension Text

When a dimension's text doesn't fit between the extension lines, a popular option is to "move text with leader". To match the other leaders, though, this text can be vertically centered on the leader. (Default behavior places the text over a line.) To quickly change this, simply select the dimension, then right-click and select "Dim text position-->Centered" from the menu. You can change this setting from Properties too, but only if you haven't grip-moved the text to another location. Once it's moved away from the default, the right-click menu is the quickest way to change it.

Close All Drawings

To quickly close all open drawings, use CLOSEALL (another example of creative command names, I know). Also available under Window-->Close All. You will be prompted to save changes if necessary.

Proxy Objects

Sometimes when you open a drawing, you get a pop-up notice warning you about "proxy objects" in the drawing. Technical explanation: Proxy objects are placeholders for custom objects that are created by ObjectARX applications in such programs as AutoCAD Architecture (ACA, formerly known as Architectural Desktop). Basic explanation: In the originating program, these objects carry additional data or properties that are not supported in plain AutoCAD. For example, a wall created in ACA can have height, thickness, windows, etc. -- much more information than is displayed by the two or more lines of the proxy. Regular AutoCAD can copy or move these objects, but they can create problems for xrefs or osnaps. If that is the case, the best thing to do is explode the proxy object. (I know...I said "explode"...shocking, isn't it?) However, you have to be careful, as the "intelligence" of these objects is lost when you explode them, and sometimes adds lines where they weren't before. In short, the best thing to do with a proxy object is to ignore it, if you can. If you can't ignore it, ask the person who sent you the file to "Export to AutoCAD" before they send it. This will strip out the custom information and let you use the file more easily.

Command Options

When executing a command, options are accessible in three ways: at the command line, in the Dynamic Input drop-down (for you folks on 2006 or above), or through the right-click shortcut menus. You can have your menus always off, always on, or available with a time-delay. (These settings are located in Tools-->Options-->User Preferences.) I like the time delay, personally...sometimes you feel like a menu, sometimes you don't!

Stretch Multiple

A recent improvement (introduced sometime after version 2004) to the STRETCH command means that you no longer need to get exactly what you meant to stretch with the first crossing window. It now accepts multiple window selections, so if you either miss the first time, or have objects in different areas that can’t be selected with a single window, you don’t have to start the command over again.

Windows Explorer Start Folder

You can configure your Windows Explorer icon to start in any folder you like. If you right-click on the icon and select Shortcut, you'll see a line for "Target". It probably says "%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe" now. To change the start-up folder, add "/n, /e, " (no quotes needed), where "mypath" is the location of your favorite folder. (Okay, another not-CAD tip, but I like not having to collapse the folder tree that opens up by default.)

MTEXT Sample Text

When you start MTEXT and pick the first point, you see “sample text” showing you the current text style and height. If “abc” is too boring, you can set the text to anything you want (up to 10 characters) with MTJIGSTRING. Just for fun. :-)