2013

Table Of Contents
Basic Customization
AutoCAD
®
is a general-purpose drafting system designed with an open architecture so you
can customize and extend its many features. As a result, you can expand and shape AutoCAD
according to your needs.
Overview of Customization
AutoCAD can be customized in simple ways. For example, you can change the
directory structure or create a custom title block to use on a layout. If you want
to change the interface further, you can edit the Tool Sets palette or menu bar,
and use DIESEL statements to create custom commands.
You can also use a number of powerful application programming interfaces
(APIs) to add to and modify AutoCAD to suit your needs.
The list that follows is arranged from least to most complex:
Organize files. You can organize program, support, and drawing files. For
example, you can make a separate folder for each project that includes only
the support files that project needs.
Create custom drawing templates (DWTs). You can create custom
drawing templates to use when creating a new drawing. Drawing templates
are used to store the layers, blocks, and styles that you might use across all
your drawings.
Run external programs and utilities from within AutoCAD. You
can, for example, copy a disk or delete a file from within AutoCAD by adding
the appropriate external command to the program parameters (PGP) file,
acad.pgp.
Define command aliases. You can define simple abbreviations, or aliases,
for frequently used commands from within AutoCAD by adding the
command to the PGP file acad.pgp. For example, you might want to start
the BLOCK command by entering b.
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